Night Raid's Lazy Assassin
by KenzoXShuyita
Summary: Meet Naruto. Idiot, genius, badass, dumbass, intuitive, clumsy, bastard, and a number of other details, but officially a lazy blond teen that prefers doing nothing over everything. At least quick assassinations should fit his lazy character, right? "I really don't feel like doing anything today. You guys can skedaddle and I'll just...actually, I'll just kill you all now. Cheers!"
1. Chapter 1: Help Me! I'm Being Kidnapped!

**Chapter 1: Help! I'm Being Kidnapped by Two Beautiful Girls!**

**A/N: Hey guys! It's KenzoXShuyita with another story, meaning I had another moment where I was like "OH, I NEED TO WRITE THIS!" Well, kind of. Akame Ga Kiru is such a good manga (now an anime), but there are hardly** **_any stories _online. It's surprising. So I felt that I needed to contribute. Kind of. Okay, maybe not really; I just wanted to write this story and have fun.  
**

**Oh, by the way, Naruto is _not_ weak. No, I repeat: Naruto is NOT weak. But he's not exactly overpowered...or at least I'll try to not make him super overpowered. Then again, Teigu users are all overpowered, right? Oh, before I forget to mention, Naruto is not from the Elemental Nations or anything like that. Nope, he was born in the world of Akame Ga Kiru, so no strange Kurama in his stomach or anything like that.**

**This chapter had an issue where no one could read it when I published it. Sorry about that, readers. But please, do me a favor, blame . It wasn't me.**

**Anyway...**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Akame Ga Kiru or Naruto. I'm not saying this again.**

**Chapter 1 START**

"Woah! This is the capital?" one boy said in wonder, his eyes feasting on the sights of the city. It was obvious it was his first time in the capital; any person wearing a clothing style similar to the boy in question would easily be defined as a "country bumpkin" of some kind. The location didn't matter. The point was that he wasn't from around _here_, and that made all the difference. At least, to a certain girl sitting nearby drinking her coffee calmly, and yet wary of her surroundings, it mattered.

She listened silently as he spoke to himself about his outlandish dream of saving his village, and she took another sip from her cup of coffee as she watched him trying to enlist in the army. When he was forcibly thrown out of the registration building, she took that as her cue and stood up.

Placing a kind, innocent smile on her face, she began her act.

"Hey," she called out. When the boy turned around, she continued to walk closer until she was right above him. This was a move on his psyche; she knew he would be looking at her breasts. Men these days seemed to have a one track mind. The worse the capital became, the more horny men became. The days of gentlemen were gone; their numbers were so sparse, they may as well have been extinct.

And just like she had expected, he was blushing as he stared up at her from his position on the ground. Well, even she was proud of her large breasts.

When he stood up, she took on a playful, yet wiser position as she spoke from what she gathered from her scrutiny.

"You look like a boy from the country searching for adventure. Well…if you want to join the army and be in a higher position…"

In the end, she convinced him to buy her a meal…and she scammed him for all of his money as well.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Night time)**

"I can't believe this. I don't even have enough money to go to a hotel because that "Onee-chan" took all of it," Tatsumi complained to himself as he sat against a building, planning on sleeping against it for the night. It wasn't too cold, so it wouldn't be too much of an issue to sleep without any extra layers. The only problem would be if the capital didn't like people sleeping on the streets.

"Hey, can I join you?" Tatsumi looked to his left and found a blond teenager looking at him. Three features immediately struck Tatsumi. The teen had spiky blond, platinum colored hair, deep, blue eyes, and what seemed like a triplet of whiskers on each cheek. After that came the rest of his features. For example, the clothing the blond teen looked like clothing available only at the capital; Tatsumi may not have been in the capital for very long, but he can make discernments quite easily.

The blond was wearing a white jacket with a black hood, with a blue T-shirt underneath that seemed to be made out of silk. As for pants, the boy was wearing black slacks that stopped at the shins. And lastly, he wore black combat boots that went up to right below the end of the pants, so a minimal amount of skin was actually shown. The boy also had no weapons in view, so Tatsumi relaxed a touch, dropping his shoulders by a marginal amount.

"Sure. But why?" He asked warily. He had, after all, just been scammed of all of his money. The blond teen sat down next to Tatsumi, sliding down the wall with a sigh of content as his legs were finally able to rest.

"Hmm…I heard a rumor and wanted to test it. By the way, name's Naruto." Before Tatsumi could ask "what rumor", the sound of a carriage and a few voices made him stop.

"Again princess?" A tired voice asked.

"I can't help it; it's just in my nature!" A girlish reply retorted immediately. Tatsumi saw Naruto smile in his peripheral vision as the sound of light footsteps came closer to them. When the two looked up, they both saw a girl with an expensive, frilly dress.

"Did you two come from the country?" She inquired, a bright smile warming Tatsumi and Naruto.

"Uhm…yeah." Tatsumi said truthfully. People had been treating him somewhat differently because of his status as a country boy, but he wouldn't go back on his roots for some stupid haters. Prejudiced bastards, the lot of them.

"If you don't have a place to stay, do you want to stay at my house?" Tatsumi's distrust was made plain with his next response.

"I don't have any money." He replied with the obvious.

"You wouldn't be here if you had any," the girl quipped in a strangely happy tone. Naruto just assumed that she liked having people over at her house.

"You should just accept her goodwill," one of the guards supplied helpfully.

"Lady Aria can't leave people like you alone. The sooner you accept, the sooner we go home." The other guard stated honestly.

"Well, if he doesn't accept, I will. I want to see what's so good about a 'bed'," Naruto said. "Plus, I heard they were bouncy."

Everyone ignored the blond's last statement. Tatsumi raked a hand over his hair and sighed.

"I…guess I'll accept. Thank you." A house of any kind was better than sleeping on the streets.

The girl just giggled and nodded her head.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Lady Aria's Mansion)**

"Wow," both boys mouthed when they entered the mansion. The outside was amazing by itself, but the inside was just blowing them away.

"Oh, did you bring some people again, Aria?" a man asked from a table inside a large kitchen. The two boys turned over to the sound and saw Aria already next to the man who was sitting with a beautiful woman. They immediately assumed that the two were Aria's parents.

Tatsumi was confused. How could some parents be so calm about their daughters bringing people home to a _mansion_? He looked over to the guards in slight trepidation. How strong could these people be that the masters of the house showed no signs of worry? Tatsumi looked over to Naruto to see if the blond was worried, but the blond around his age seemed to be extremely immersed on evaluating the furniture and the antiques that were in plain sight all around the house.

"These people are really rich…I wonder if they need all of this," Tatsumi heard the blond mumble to himself. He hitched a breath and began to sweat; the blond wasn't as quiet as he may have thought, because Aria's father began to laugh heartily.

"We may be rich, but we would prefer to keep everything we have. How about you two boys sit down at our table?" The two complied, although Naruto gave a longing look at one of the antique pieces. The rest of the family watched as the blond reluctantly drew his eyes away from a certain vase and then finally walked over to the table and sat down next to Tatsumi.

"Tea is set, dears. Please enjoy yourselves," the mother said with an eye-smile. The two teens smiled at the mother and nodded their heads politely, but neither drank from their cup. Tatsumi didn't, because he had a question, and Naruto didn't because he was back to looking around.

"Um…I'd like to ask…is there something I can do to join the army?"

Everyone's eyes were immediately on the country boy; Naruto's eyes continued to look around the house with an interested gaze.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Ten Minutes Later)**

"I see. You wish to enlist in the army to save your village, and this requires you to start to start off in a higher position. And you state that you are at least Captain class, am I correct?" the father asked.

"Hai!" Tatsumi replied unwaveringly. He had absolute belief in his skill; he knew there were people stronger than he, but he had time to improve. Captain class wasn't even that powerful compared to some people out there. There were people in the General class by sheer strength, and then some people that were even more powerful by other means.

"I see. But you must understand that inside the capital, it may seem peaceful, but outside these walls is a hell that you would be subjected to every day you are enlisted in the army. Are you prepared to be exposed to the horrors of war and partake in them directly?" Aria's father asked seriously with his cup raised to his lips. He took a sip when Tatsumi didn't respond for a few seconds.

"I'm…prepared for that. I'm willing to do whatever it takes for my village!" He said, sounding more and more certain of himself the more he spoke.

"I see…you have good spirit, like a young man should!" He stated with goodwill.

"Did you come by yourself, Tatsumi?" Aria asked all of a sudden, breaking the somewhat serious atmosphere. Tatsumi hesitated at the question.

"We were a group of three, but we got separated." He replied slowly, caught up in a trance.

"Huh? What about Naruto?" She asked, her curious gaze now on the blond, who was now kindly staring only around the kitchen area. His straying eyes went to Aria the moment his name was called, but he didn't say anything. The blond kept a calm, composed gaze on the girl that continued to curiously stared back.

"I didn't know him until when you came and allowed us to be in your house for the night."

"Hmm…interesting," the father said, running his hand through his moustache slowly. "And Naruto, would you join the army?" Said blond turned his gaze to the man and tilted his head.

"I'll do wherever I end up being," he replied nonchalantly. "I wasn't really planning on doing anything, but if I joined the army, I think I would be interested."

"Really? You would be interested in watching your own brethren in arms die? You find killing people interesting?" Aria's father asked in a rightfully disbelieving tone. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as he continued to hear the description of the army and war.

"Oh, is that what an army does? They die and kill? No, I would not like to join the army." The whole family laughed; this boy was interesting. It was their first time having a boy like Naruto in the house. They may have had a few that looked around the house, but never was there a teen boy or girl that completely blocked out the conversation.

"I see. That's a normal response. But if you had joined the army, do you think you would be in the Captain class like Tatsumi-kun here?" Naruto drew a finger to his chin and looked up to the ceiling…or more specifically the chandler above him, and hummed in deep pondering.

"I would probably be the water boy," the platinum-haired teen suddenly replied in a completely dead-serious tone, not moving from his thinking posture. Everyone in the room resisted the urge to face-fault. However, their surprise and disbelief at the bluntness of the blond were made clear when Aria's mother and father both choked on their tea, Aria herself stifled her giggles, and Tatsumi just gave Naruto a stare that said 'I cannot believe you just said that'.

"However, I would be an extremely deadly water boy. All of you would either underestimate me, leaving me with one opportunity to kill…and one opportunity would be all I need. Or, I do something similar to what I did right now and make my opponent make an involuntarily reflex at something I do, and that would give me an opportunity to slice through the neck." A silence descended in the room as Naruto's previously calm expression turned into a serious one, his lips curled downwards in a frown as his eyes became slightly shadowed from his bangs.

"Then again, I have no idea what I'm talking about," Naruto suddenly stated honestly, his serious expression breaking into a smile. The rest of the people at the table let out a nervous chuckle and smiled half-heartedly.

"…Anyway, thank you all so much for letting us stay! Is there anything I can do to help?" Tatsumi suddenly asked, trying to break the awkward atmosphere that the blond had created; Naruto was once again looking around the house. He intentionally said "I" because Naruto could do what he wanted; Tatsumi wanted to state as clearly as possible that he didn't know Naruto at all. Aria took this opportunity to completely try and break the awkwardness.

"Sure! Why don't you be my bodyguard tomorrow? And Naruto? Could you be my water boy?"

"Sure," both boys answered immediately, both very serious. It seems the blond didn't quite catch the teasing in Aria's question.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip; Midnight)**

"It wonder if Sayo and Ieyasu made it to the capital…this is really frustrating…" Tatsumi mumbled to himself, his head resting on his hands as he lied down in bed. Suddenly, the sounds of hinges squeaking and wood shaking was heard through the wall from the room next adjacent to Tatsumi's.

"By Kami! Beds are so much fun! Are these things really meant for sleep?" Naruto stated excitedly from his room. Tatsumi just groaned; sleep would be hard to get tonight. A long night was in wait.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Next morning)**

"Mornin', Tatsumi!" Naruto greeted in a hyper tone. He had probably one of the best times of his life, considering the smile that was itching up to his ears.

"Mornin'. I know that I won't know you for much longer, but in the future, please do not jump on the beds. It's extremely disturbing," Tatsumi mumbled silently. Then, he walked past the blond and yawned right when he was turning a corner.

"And when was the last time I gave two shits for what people thought about me?" the blond stated to himself flippantly as he followed after the sleepy Tatsumi. "So, let's see. A normal person needs about five bottles of water a day…how much is a bottle? Hmm…I'll just take five gallons. Kami knows I need it!"

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Shopping District)**

"I want to get that, too!" Aria exclaimed with stars and hearts in her eyes as she zoned in on the newest fashion of clothing. Behind her were her exasperated bodyguards and men holding up a pile of at least twelve boxes of other items and extraordinarily expensive goods she had bought earlier in the day.

Naruto was next to the excited girl with a large supply of water…of which he was drinking of majority of. He had started the day with _five gallons_. What the hell was Naruto thinking? When he had first seen the blond lugging around that much water, Tatsumi just gave Naruto a blank stare for a few seconds, and then turned around and walked away, whispering to himself when he was a sufficient distance away –

"That kid has some serious quirks."

And out of the five gallons, the blond had already drank three. The water was literally evaporating!

Tatsumi was taken out of his current thoughts of a certain irksome blond by a tap on his shoulder.

"Hey, look up," one of the guards whispered into his ears. When he complied, the guard continued. "That large building you see there," indicated by a finger pointed past his face to a ridiculously large palace-like building, "-is the palace." The boy widened his eyes in amazement and wonder, much like the night before from his exposure to Aria's mansion.

"What? That's the palace! It's HUGE!" If he thought Aria's mansion was large, the palace made her place look like a playground. And a small one at that. "So, is that where the emperor resides and rules the country?"

"No…" Tatsumi looked over at the guard, who had given a slight pause to give emphasis to his next words. "It's a bit different than you think. The emperor is a child right now, and the one ruling from the shadows is the Prime Minister, and he's the one making his country rot." By the end of his statement, the guard's voice was hardly audible. But the facial expression on the man never changed; it was completely serious and filled with truth.

Before the sword-wielding teen could respond, he was silenced by the guard.

"Hey, don't make too much noise, or you may end up like the others…with your head rolling on the ground." So Tatsumi remained silent, but his anger was made clear with his expression and his clenched fist.

"So the reason why my village is suffering from such high taxes…" he said slowly and angrily. The answer was obvious now. The guard remained silent for a few moments to let the boy think about it before he decided to continue the conversation in a different direction.

"But there are people like them as well," he said quietly, thumbing at a few posters that said a name, had a picture, and declared where the wanted criminals' loyalty lied: **Night Raid**. "It's a group of assassins that conduct their attacks during the night…and they mainly target the wealthy. So do yourself a favor and be prepared just in case tonight."

"You got it!" Tatsumi exclaimed.

"And do yourself another favor and be quiet, like I said before. Oh, and why don't you help the little princess over there."

"Ha-hai," the boy replied in a much more sober and quieter tone as he paled when he saw the ever growing pile of goods.

"Want some water?" the blond asked, suddenly popping up behind Tatsumi. Said boy didn't even turn around in favor of staring at the top of the pile of goods.

"No thanks."

Naruto shrugged and walked away, taking another sip of water. Sip, as in the equivalent of a carton. Naruto looked back at the other teen that seemed about his age and saw sweat glistening on the back of his neck. He stopped for a few seconds, deciding whether or not to give the boy water anyway…but then decided not to. Water was a precious resource, and those that didn't want it didn't need to have any.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Night time)**

Tatsumi opened his eyes from his slumber. Something in the house felt wrong. The darkness from the lack of light suddenly felt malicious.

'_This feeling…is it bloodlust?' _He thought to himself as he grabbed his sword and ran out of the room. Without a second of hesitation, he ran into Naruto's room and found the blond…not there? Whatever, that wasn't his issue. Running along the corridor, he found a window and saw _them_. The group, standing against the light of the moon, were all staring down from a set of wires.

"**Night Raid**!" He exclaimed, recognizing a few of the faces. Suddenly, two of the figures on the wires disappeared. Looking down, he saw three of Aria's bodyguards warning the girl and the person in the armor, but it was immediately ignored. The girl flashed forwards and…all three men fell to the ground. They were completely destroyed in just seconds!

"What…the hell?" A cold sweat broke on his forehead and the back of his neck. His survival instincts were telling him to run away, but the family had given him a place to stay! They were the first _good _people he had met in the capital! Making his decision, he ran all the way down the corridor and through the maze that the house was until he found the entrance.

"I'll at least protect Aria-san!" he declared in determination. He sprinted across the lawn and the garden until he caught a glimpse of a few bodyguards running in a circle. In the center was the girl he was looking for. Checking which way they were running, he deduced they were going shed quite a ways from the mansion, so he began to sprint.

"What's going on?" Aria squeaked, her voice filled with worry and trepidation.

"We're running to the far-off shed. Hopefully, you'll be safe there," one of the guards replied, although he didn't turn to look back at the girl.

"Safe from what?" A certain blond asked. This time, the guard looked back and said –

"**Night Raid**." Before Naruto could reply, a shout across the lawn caught their attention.

"Aria-san! I found you!" All of the guards, Aria, and Naruto turned to find Tatsumi panting, most probably from sprinting across the lawn.

"You've come at the perfect time! Stop the enemies for as long as you can while we take Aria to safety!" the guard that told Naruto that Night Raid had come ordered.

"WHAT?!" Not a moment later, the girl Tatsumi recognized as 'Akame' from the wanted posters landed in a crouch with her sword at the ready. The teen instinctively pulled out his sword and got into his stance, forcibly throwing all wavering emotions away so that he could fight at his full potential.

"Not a target." And with that, she disappeared, only reappearing once to step on his shoulder as a stepping stone to reach her next target: all of the remaining bodyguards. "Eliminate."

By the time Tatsumi turned around, all of the bodyguards were dead, their fresh blood sprayed across the grass like red dew. And the murderer of them all was standing in front of Aria, her sword raised. Tatsumi charged, and he would've made it in time, but Naruto stopped Akame himself by kicking her on the side, making the girl miss by a slim centimeter. Akame flipped away after missing, expertly performing the acrobatic motion before landing a few meters away from the group of three teens.

"Did you forget I'm still here?" the blond asked in a bored tone. "Or is it just that since I wasn't doing anything, you didn't realize I was here?" The girl assassin stared at Naruto, then at Aria. She was on the grass on her bum, giving Naruto a thankful expression.

"You're not a target," She said to Naruto. Akame then turned to Tatsumi. "And neither are you. However, if you continue to get in the way of my targets…I'll eliminate you," she finished in a low, deadly tone, letting her threat linger in the air.

"…Okay, you can have her." Naruto conceded, sliding from his position so that he was no longer in front of Aria.

"WHAT?!" Aria and Tatsumi screamed at the same time. Aria's thankful look immediately shifted into one of surprise and fright. Tatsumi just gave the blond a glare before sprinting in front of Aria and standing in front of her protectively in Naruto's stead. Akame…just nodded.

"May I ask why you are so compliant is disregarding your companions?" Akame asked, still with her monotone tone. Naruto just shrugged unconcernedly at the question.

"I only knew them for a day, so there aren't any real ties between us. The girl's family may have given me a place to stay for a little while, but I like sleeping in trees more, so it doesn't make that much difference to me. And besides, my life is more important than hers. At least, in my perspective it is. I'm just covering my own ass." Naruto explained without a pint of shame in his voice.

"Fine, then _I'll _protect her!" Tatsumi roared as he dashed forwards in engage in swordfight against the expert assassin. Naruto and Aria both watched quietly as Tatsumi fought courageously and with all of his strength…but it was obvious who was going to be the victor. The girl just had so much more skill and expertise with her blade. Every motion had a meaning and was so graceful compared to Tatsumi's desperate thrusts and parries. Add to the girl's skill the fact she incorporated kicks and punches to throw her opponent off-guard, it was clear the victor would be decided soon.

"Tatsumi!" Aria screamed when the boy was kicked. She saw the blade nearing his chest…and then striking it. "TATSUMI!" She screamed again, barely preventing herself from running over the fallen boy.

"Keh keh…seems like it really did save me. Thanks, old man," the swordsman said to himself as he forced himself to his feet. "You know, if you were an assassin, shouldn't you have killed me instead of letting he stand?"

"You're right…I'll rectify my mistake immediately." Akame then dashed forwards, her sword reflecting the moonlight of its deadly edge.

"Wait, wait! You guys want money or something, right? Then at least let this innocent girl go! We're not even on the battlefield!" However, the girl ignored his pleas and went in for the cut on the neck…only to be stopped by the girl that scammed him the day before.

"What are you doing, Leone?" Akame asked, not at all disturbed by the fact her final strike was interrupted.

"We still have time, right? Just give me a few moments," she said. Akame nodded curtly and dropped her sword to her side.

"Wait, you're the boob!" He exclaimed. Men and their horny nature, see? Leone just smiled and giggled playfully.

"Yup! I'm that beautiful Onee-san from that day!"

"Oh. Is that you, Onee-san?" Naruto called out from the side. Leone turned her head and her smile immediately widened.

"Oh, is that you, Naruto?" The blond grinned, his canine teeth fully visible.

"It _is _you! What are you doing her - hey…on your back…is that what I think it is?" Naruto asked excitedly, completely forgetting all about his suspicions for why she was here. Leone smirked and pulled the package on her back carefully off of her and pulled out…a vase. "Yes, we have the same taste in antiques!" The blond exclaimed, suddenly rushing forwards to reach for the vase. However, the vase was suddenly lifted into the air, too high for the younger blond's reach. "Hey, don't use your height to your advantage!" Naruto whined before making a pout.

"It's okay, Naruto. Just give it a few years and you'll grow," Leone said cheekily.

"Um…how do you two know each other?" Tatsumi asked, feeling like a sideliner at the moment. The two turned to him at the same time and said –

"He bought me clothes two days ago/I bought her clothes two days ago!" The two were sporting identical grins, although for probably very different reasons.

'_So…she basically scammed him two days ago.' _Tatsumi thought to himself. _'What am I supposed to expect from Naruto? Does he even realize that he got scammed?'_

"Hey, Naruto. Give me a moment, okay?" Leone stated as she walked towards the shed. Naruto nodded his head, dropping his grin and taking on a serious expression. He knew what Leone was doing. Naruto didn't understand how Tatsumi didn't smell it since they were so nearby. Death. Lots and lots of death. It was putrid and sickening, foul to his nose, and somehow, Tatsumi didn't realize it until he was just about two meters away from the shed. When Leone kicked it, all of the family's atrocious actions were made public.

"Wha-what is this…what the hell is this?"

"This is the _truth _of the capital. And the _lies _they spout to hide their actions is what we unravel…and sometimes as a result murder. You can't call her innocent, young lad. Not after this. Their family brings in unsuspecting victims and tortures them for _pleasure_, to test the limits of human perseverance and strength…but all in the wrong way. And if we hadn't come…you would have joined all of these corpses."

"Well, he would've been a corpse today if he didn't have that random thing on his chest protecting him from that sword thrust," Naruto helpfully supplied from behind the two. Akame's blade was at Naruto's neck in an instant as she leaned in on the blond.

"You want a cut?" Naruto raised his hands nervously in a calming gesture.

"I'd much rather live, thank you very much." The two stayed completely still; Ayame kept her blade at his neck, and Naruto tried not to move so that he wouldn't be cut. A few, endless seconds later, the girl slowly lowered her blade and continued to look on into the shed. The boy inside was now talking to one of the live persons that had been tortured.

"-Sayo to death!"

When the bloody boy's accusation struck clear through the silent night, Aria became to shake.

"What's so wrong with that?" She broke away from Leone's hold, and her grip on sanity broke free. "You're just a bunch of country hicks, worthless and trash! I should be able to treat you however you want, just like cattle!" Aria then focused on Saya, the girl that had died by her hands. "And she! – that girl was so _impertinent _for having such _straight hair _for a farm animal, even when I'm troubled by unruly hair! And so I made her suffer _perfectly_, _meticulously, _and _gratefully_! She should be _pleased _I took such good care of her!"

The disgust on everyone's face was clear as day in this silent, cloudless night.

"A bunch of sadists who take the guise as Samaritans…I'm sorry for getting in your way, Akame."

"I will eliminate her." Said girl replied in a monotone, but there was an undertone of clear anger.

"Wait."

Tatsumi's order was clear as he slowly stood up, letting go of his friend's hand as he slowly walked towards Aria, his eyes shadowed by the darkness.

Leone gave a disapproving look at Tatsumi. "Don't tell me you're defending her again."

"No." He suddenly lifted his face so his expression could be seen clearly by Aria. He dashed forwards and sliced his sword through her whole upper body, cleaving her in two.

"I'll kill her."

"Ah?"

And then the pain came, and her death quickly followed. There's a saying that what matters is how a person dies. If that's the case, the last expression she would see was one of rage. The last feeling she would feel would be that of pain. And the last sight she would see would be that of the dark sky above, no different from the world inside her closed eyes as she died. A sad, hopeless death that no one would mourn about.

And a few moments afterwards, Tatsumi's close friend died as well in his hands. Ieyasu's last words were -

"-keep it…real." At least, that was all Naruto heard.

Silence. Then –

"What the hell is wrong with the capital? Can't there be something we can change about it?" Tatsumi spoke softly, letting his grief take over. His close friends…gone. His dreams and ambitions for the capital…gone. And his outlook on the capital itself was now completely destroyed and shifted that everything looked black. All of his plans and hopes were turned on its head as the truth barreled him.

Suddenly, a hand gripped his collar and he was pulled backwards, away from Ieyasu's corpse, harshly.

"Wait! I have to bury their graves!"

"Oh, don't worry. We'll take their bodies later!" Leone replied reassuringly.

"WHAT?!"

As the three were walking towards their group…well, two, plus one being dragged on the ground, they stopped in front a certain blond with blue eyes with his arms crossed over his chest. The two parties stayed still as a slow wind past the groups…and then –

"What do you want, Naruto? Oh, let's take him, too!" Leone concluded happily as she rushed Naruto and grabbed his collar. As a result, the two boys were now dragged on the floor together.

"Is this what you wanted, Naruto?" Tatsumi asked, a neutral expression on his face.

"Nope. Is this you wanted?" The blond asked with an identical expression.

"Nope."

"…"

"…"

"I'M BEING KIDNAPPED! I DON'T WANT TO BE AN ASSASSIN!" Naruto began shouting. Akame placed her blade against his jugular again to shut him up.

"Do you want to join us or die? Since you saw us and saw what we have…I don't think we can just let you go, Naruto," Leone said, a dark visage taking over her face. The blond gulped as he turned away from her in fright and stared at the ground.

"…I'll join. Living is more important anyway. Talking about living…" the blond suddenly puked as they went up into the air.

"WHAT THE HELL! YOU GOT THAT ON MY PANTS!"

"WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? IT WAS MY FIRST TIME SEEING A SHED FULL OF DEAD PEOPLE AND SEEING SOMEONE ACTUALLY BEING KILLED!"

Akame gave a look to Leone.

"No, you can't kill them."

Blink.

"No, you can't threaten Naruto, either. He gave me clothes, remember?"

Blink.

"I'll give you food back at the base if you stop bothering me about this. Just fists, okay?"

"…Okay."

When the four had joined up with the whole group of **Night Raid**, there were a few congratulations for only few moments before the speculations went to the two boys.

"And what are those?" One of the members asked. She was a girl with two ponytails and a gun strapped to her side.

"They're one of us, now."

"I'm not a thing, you know," Naruto said from his position behind the girls, his back still facing the group. Tatsumi, at least, was able to face the group, although at the price of being held bridal style by Leone. "Woah!"

Suddenly, both boys were dropped unceremoniously on the ceiling roof tiles as Leone said –

"Congratulations on your inauguration to **Night Raid**! You two are now official assassins!"

"…"

"…"

"What the hell is with this development?!" That was ignored.

"…I'm being kidnapped by beautiful girls that have a few kinks missing in their heads. That's what's happening right now, right?"

Naruto was promptly shut up, again by Akame, but this time with a fist just in front of his face. Well, he didn't see the gun being pointed at his head by Mine, but that didn't matter. The blond ignored the fist – after all, he wouldn't die from a punch from a girl, right? – and said –

"I want that goddamn vase, Leone. You hear me! I want that vase!"

As for what Tatsumi wanted…that's useless information. He was more confused on the ridiculous development that was currently happening rather than what he wanted.

**End Chapter 1**

**A/N: Well…I don't know what to say. Did you hate it? Like it? Love it? Dislike it? Poop on it? What? Leave a review and tell me what you think? I'll be peacing now!**

**Oh, who should Tatsumi be paired with? Tell me what you think?**

**KenzoXShuyita,**

**Signing out!**


	2. Chapter 2: Capacity

**Chapter 2: Capacity**

**A/N: This story will somewhat follow canon, but not completely. Naruto **_**will **_**make an impact. After a certain point in the story, we will most likely start to fall out from canon. **

**Information on the Story: Naruto does have a Teigu, but no one knows what it is. More properly stated, no one even knows that he has a Teigu. His skills are actually unknown, since he has never been seen before by anyone in the capital, and neither has anyone actually seen him fight.**

**Information on the Story: By the way, for any of you say that Naruto is OC in this story...well, do yourself a favor and read the summary. Does a LAZY Naruto sound very in-character to you? Some things about him will be the same, but he will also be different. But the important things that make him Naruto, such as the belief that having something to protect will make him powerful beyond his limits.**

**By the way...those of you that want to not read, don't read. Haters, you don't need to waste your time, it's all good. If you're going to leave something, leave the story and a criticism, not a flame.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 2 START**

"This is your hideout?" Naruto asked, taking a good look at the seemingly run down cottage as his eyes swept through the unassuming building. Taking in all of the furniture, his surroundings, and the wooden floor beneath him, Naruto suddenly gave a warm smile. "I like it. Feels like a warm place for some reason." Something about the place just gave the young blond a feeling that could be placed as 'coming home', although he was unsure what that really meant himself. All he knew was that he liked the place.

Leone just smiled at the fellow blond's opinion.

"Are you stupid? Of course this isn't the base." And there goes Mine, already berating and chastising the new recruits. Leone just continued to smile, having gotten used to her attitude. She watched the two boys for any sign of anger, but Tatsumi didn't show any emotion, as the insult was not directed towards him, and Naruto just ignored her.

"Hey, are you even listening to me?" The pink-haired girl scowled again. The blond just continued to look around before yawning and making a bee line to the bed he had spotted during his perusal of the somewhat large cottage. Leone's smile widened, finding her interest rising in this situation. The pink-haired girl was not normally ignored so blatantly, if not never.

Mine quickly stomped after him in her irritation. Right before Naruto reached the bed and reached for the blankets, he was forcefully pulled backward and turned around by the shoulder. However, instead of stopping the spin and fall, the blond continued to agree to gravity's laws, his body falling head dropping on her shoulder.

"Hey, what are you doing, baka?!" a flustered Mine shouted.

Naruto began to sag, his body weight leaning on the smaller girl. Mine struggled to stay standing, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth from exertion. For some reason, this guy was hard to carry!

"Can…one of you help me? Why is this idiot leaning on me in the first place?" However, she received no help or respite, since all of the members behind her were laughing, other than Akame and Tatsumi.

"….Ramen…" the blond mumbled into Mine's ear in a wistful tune. Then, she felt some kind of liquid drip onto her shoulder near the base of her neck. Was this guy…drooling? Finding the physical strength, she pushed the blond away from her with a burst of power. Naruto unceremoniously dropped to the ground with a thud.

"…Is he really sleeping?" she asked, staring at the face-down figure of the blond. Her eyebrows began to twitch in annoyance when there was no response. The rest of the group just started full-out laughing, again other than Tatsumi and Akame. The boy was just deadpanning, while the girl was giving off a uninterested vibe.

"Well, it has been a long day," Leone said with a wide grin as she moved further inside the cottage to pick up the blond and place him on the bed carefully. When he was placed on the bed, Naruto suddenly yawned and then smacked his lips, which made the busty girl almost glomp the blond. Almost.

When she was done with taking care of the teenage blond, she turned around and faced Tatsumi; all of the other members weren't really talking to him, so Leone took charge. Well, she was the most outgoing of the group, so her position in these kinds of situations did make sense.

"Take a bed inside one of the other rooms, sleep on the couch if you want, or on the floor if you prefer neither. It's all up to you," she finished with a few pats to his shoulder as she walked passed the boy and through the open door into the darkness. "See you tomorrow," she said with a wave over her shoulder right before she was out of his line of sight.

After that, the rest of the members quickly shuffled out of the room, each member of **Night Raid **either giving him a look or completely, flat- out ignoring him. When the last member walked out, the door was shut…and locked.

Tatsumi stared at the door, which was their only possible escape out if he wanted to leave; there were no windows in the cottage, from what he could tell so far. All of a sudden, his mind seemed to stop functioning, and his body felt too heavy. So, he decided that he wouldn't think any further on the matter and just go to sleep. Walking into a room by random, he flopped onto the bed and fell asleep without another thought.

Outside, the **Night Raid **members, who were much more used to staying up at night, were walked along the forest quietly, their feet crunching silently on the leaves on the ground.

"Was that a good idea, Leone?" Bullock asked, breaking the silence of the forest and mountain. Mine decided this was her moment to put in her two cents on her opinion.

"I agree with Lubbock. I think those two are complete useless in our profession!" Mine said haughtily. The girl crossed her arms to get the point across, finishing off her image with a quick look to the side, her chin tilted up. The rest of the members stayed silent as Leone put her hands behind her head and looked up to the night sky above, giving off a relaxed vibe.

"You guys didn't see it, right? That boy with the sword fought Akame and survived; that's enough of a reason to keep him. He has talent, and you can't deny that," she said, cutting off Mine's comment on how there was no way Tatsumi could've fought Akame and lived. Her reason for disbelief is acceptable; how many people the same age as Akame could engage in a sword fight and still live?

"Fine, let's say that kid with the sword is not as bad as we think. Then what about the one? The guy seems like a completely lazy, useless person! He even fell asleep before hitting the bed and didn't wake up when he hit the ground! We definitely don't have any use for him," Mine said, puffing her cheeks out at the end. She decided that she wouldn't get anything for Tatsumi, so she redirected her efforts to Naruto. That Naruto kid didn't even give off any kind of vibe. The Tatsumi kid, at least he was giving off feelings of remorse, sadness, and also anger. The blond had nothing. There was absolutely nothing interesting about him.

"I disagree," Akame said from the back of the group. The rest of the members were surprised; the red-eyed girl generally didn't give her opinion on members that she didn't really know that well. Not that this situation had never happened before, but it was just rare.

"See, even Akame thinks Naruto is pretty good, right?" Leone said from the front of the pack, still looking up to the large moon above. Akame made no change in facial expression to indicate her acceptance or denial.

"He's…dangerous. I don't know if he's good or not, but he has no presence. When I was about to kill our target, he suddenly kicked me out of the way, making me miss by a centimeter." The rest of the members raised their eyebrows; there was nothing impressive about this situation so far. So, they all remained silent, waiting for her to continue. Everyone except for Mine, that is.

"And? That doesn't mean anything!" Mine exclaimed, clearly confused.

"He was standing a few feet from Aria the whole time; I never noticed him there," she replied calmly, spelling it out for the rest of the group.

Now that was something different. To be able to not be noticed by Akame required some serious lack of presence. However, the thing was that he _was _noticed; his lack of presence made her put the blond into the deep recesses of her mind, assuming that he was nothing. That required either serious skill or…something else that was . Well, the blond did seem exceptionally lazy, so that may have had some part to with his presence. In either case, that lack of presence was something that could be exploited.

"I thought I felt nothing," Mine said, agreeing with Akame, understanding the implications; however, she didn't want to give up on her argument. "But so what if he has no presence; he has no combat ability! No Teigu to make him desirable to us, either."

"If that's the case, why did you pick him up?" the armored-man asked Leone. The said girl didn't stop, but she dropped her arms to her side and her eyes from the sky. Then, she turned her head around so that one mirthful eyes was visible and her smirk easily seen.

"Let's call it a woman's intuition. I felt something _special_." Then, she faced forwards and hummed to herself as her smirked increased. It should be coming anytime now.

"Hey! Are you saying I'm not a woman?!" Mine screamed, completely ignoring the fact that they were supposed to be silent in the forest. However, no one knew there was no one nearby; Lubbock's traps ensured that. The blonde girl's smile widened. That's what she was waiting for.

"Yup! Akame felt it, Sheele said nothing; you were the only one to argue against him, so you must not be a woman!"

"I'm going to kill you! Hey, get back here!" The pink-haired girl yelled in a high-pitched tone, chasing after the now running Leone. The rest of the members just watched silently, but of them had their own kind of grin or smile.

"If you're going to kill me, why would I want to go back to you?"

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Next Morning)**

Tatsumi fluttered his eyes open and lifted his head from the pillow his head resting on. He shut his eyes again to try and go back to sleep, but remembering last night's development made unconsciousness elude him. In the end, the teen pushed himself tiredly up from bed and walked out of the room. He had nothing else to do; he couldn't go outside, and he couldn't run away, so he might as well try to get the blond to wake up or just guess the time. Maybe he could look for some food?

When he went out of his room and went to the living room area, he saw the blond still sleeping, but in just a much more comfortable position than a few hours prior. Naruto was now sprawled out on the bed, half of his left arm hanging off the side. He was drooling on the pillow he was hugging tightly…and he was sleep talking. Tatsumi walked closer as silently as he could to see if he could hear, tip-toeing carefully with his boots making quiet taps.

"Ugh…I did what you asked master. I have infiltrated the base. I have found the members. May I have my reward now?" Tatsumi widened his eyes; was Naruto a spy? Was his lackadaisical attidue and lazy personality all just for show? He shook his head; no, he would continue to listen for now.

"Of course! You can have all the ramen you want for the next two hours!"

"Hmm…but I thought it was going to be at least three hours…" The blond's face seemed to reflect the saddened tone he spoke in.

"It's okay, Naruto. If you name each of the members, I'll make it three hours." The blond's sleeping face seemed to brighten considerably.

"Okay! It was…Naruko, Naru, Narumi, Narumana, Naruki, and…oh! – Naruto!" Tatsumi face-palmed. What the hell was he doing, expecting something from Naruto.

"Yay! Three hours of free ramen!" The disgruntled teen just walked away from the still sleeping blond and went into the kitchen to see if he could find something to eat.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Night Raid's Base)**

"Hey, Leone! It's your job to take care of the kids you brought!" Mine shouted from outside said girl's room. Then, the pink-haired girl backed away from the door, as if she were expecting something. Half a second after she backed up, the door burst open, revealing Leone in all of her glory: sleepy, cake-faced, and with a few blonde strands of hair pointing upwards.

"What do you want?" Mine crossed her arms when she heard the extremely slurred and sleepy tone.

"It's your job to take care of that useless pair you brought," she said again, her eyes narrowing from just the thought of the two. Hopefully, the two wouldn't actually join **Night Raid**. They weren't meant to be assassins!

"Oh…that's right. Give me five minutes to get ready," Leone mumbled as she closed the door slowly. Mine nodded her head and walked away; her job was done. Whatever Leone decided to do from here on out was her choice. As long as the two kids didn't come into the base, then she was fine with it.

Five minutes later, Leone was freshened up and seemed much livelier as she stepped out of her room once more, smiling and humming to herself. Instead of wearing her usual attire, she was dressed in one of the clothes Naruto had bought her when she had scammed him. Well…that seemed too mean for the blond. He seemed willing to give her the money for the clothes, so she would just chalk him up as a very nice person or a very big idiot.

Dressed in a short top that stopped at a few inches below her breasts and shorts that went down to her mid-thigh, the girl walked out of the base. On the way out, she picked up her pair of boots and entered the forest, walking quietly, just enjoying the sight and scent of the early morning nature. Birds chirping as the light started filtering through the trees, the girl's eyes gleamed with happiness. What could she say? She was generally a happy person.

She breathed in deeply, taking in the fresh scent of the forest in the morning. Then, she closed her eyes and listened as her feet crunched against the freshly fallen leaves on the ground. Opening her eyes, she noted every tree's location, something she had done for months. Just remember, she told herself, but don't get attached. Attachment will result in pain when they would have to move, and she knew they would eventually have to move bases.

A few minutes later, she arrived at the cottage. Stepping up the stairs, she stopped at the porch and knocked on the door soundily.

"THANK KAMI!" a voice that she quickly identified as Tatsumi yelled out, clearly audible even through the closed door.

"MORE RAMEN!" The blond sweatdropped. Did they even have ramen in the cottage? She unlocked the door and stepped in to an interesting sight.

Tatsumi was in front of the door, looking at the girl with desperate eyes; the boy seemed to be genuinely on his last straws. Almost as if he were almost about to snap. But from what?

"MORE RAMEN!" Naruto screamed again, slightly louder in volume than the one previous. Leone raised her eyebrows and looked over Tatsumi and now saw what was irritating the boy so much; the blond was sleep talking…sleep screaming. He was making a circular motion with his arm and had his right hand closed in a certain figure, as if he were holding chopsticks.

She gave a look to Tatsumi.

"And you didn't wake him up because…" she asked, giving the boy a pointed look. She may a generally happy person, but this was already getting on her nerves. Naruto screamed again, and both winced from the volume of Naruto's scream for ramen. He looked over his shoulder for a moment, staring at the blond that was now fighting against something in his dream.

"MY RAMEN, NOT YOURS! GET THE HELL AWAY!" the blond screamed, throwing a punch with his right arm while his left arm held something imaginary protectively to his side.

Tatsumi turned around after a few seconds with a blank stare, and Leone just gave him an understanding look; after all, she was currently going through the same thing he had been for Kami knows how long. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder in sympathy before walking past him, much like the night before, and stopping at Naruto's bedside. Then, she stared at the blond for a second before flipping the whole bed over on its side, sender the person sleeping on it flying and crashing on the floor in a heap.

"RISE AND SHINE!" Leone yelled into the other blond's ear. She received no surprised or shocked response; the blond was still on the floor, lightly snoring. She gave a look of disbelief. What was wrong with this kid? "Hey, wake up!" She ordered, shaking him by the shoulder. Slowly, the blond boy seemed to enter the world of reality as his eyes blearily opened. He turned his neck slowly and stared up at Leone, who was grinning down at him.

"Why? Why did you do it?" the blond on the ground asked desperately and in a defeated tone all of a sudden. The girl above raised her eyebrows, her large pupils staring down at him. "I had another two hours, twenty-eight minutes, and thirty-two seconds of free RAMEN! FREE!"

"So?" she asked. Then, she pulled him up so that he was standing at his full height. "You need to wake up; we have things to do."

"It can't be more important than sleeping and eating ramen in my dream."

He was knocked on the head.

**XShuyaX**

"Where are we going?" Tatsumi asked Leone. The three were now walking in the forest. The majority of the time, Leone was talking about assassinations and trying to convince the boys to join. Well, Naruto had already agreed.

"_So, are you two ready to join Night Raid?" The two boys looked at each other, and the two responded at the same time._

"_Sure/No". Tatsumi gave an incredulous look to Naruto._

"_What the hell? Why are you joining?" The blond just gave a blank stare back._

"_Well…first of all, I have no money. I spent it all three days ago, so there's no point for me to really deny it. And also, at least I'll having something to do. " _

"_What about getting a job?" Leone asked; she wanted to make sure that Naruto was absolutely certain about his decision. The other blond looked up to face her._

"_I have never done anything productive or learned any kind of trade, and I'm not really willing to learn anything now." _

"_Wait, so how did you get that much money? You bought silk clothes; that's a lot of money!" She asked. _

"_Easy. I stole it. Hey, why are you giving me those looks?" The two were both deadpanning at him as a sweatdrop went down their foreheads._

"_If it was so easy to steal, why would you say money is an issue?" The blond widened his eyes…before they quickly returned to normal._

"_Nah, that's too much work. I'm not stealing anymore unless I actually have to."_

Well, Leone decided to accept Naruto, anyway. If he was able to steal _that _much money, than he would be useful, even if he wasn't able to assassinate. But his attitude would have to be fixed.

So, back to Tatsumi's question.

"We're going to the Capital and checking out the district. Just going to walk around and give you two country boys a tour of the real world." Leone said. The two boys didn't reply or deny the fact that they were country boys. Naruto was, after all, in the Capital only a day longer than Tatsumi had stayed.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Capital District)**

"Why are we even here?" the lazy blond drawled out, his eyes going from one side to the next as he watched the people and buildings pass. A few things had caught his eyes, but otherwise, he seemed to be bored.

"Like I said, I'm just showing you around the area. Can't hurt, can it?" Leone asked, turning her head around to face the two who were behind her. Tatsumi nodded his head seriously, while Naruto was just looking around with a blank face and glazed over eyes.

"Well, it hurt my sleep. You took away two-and-a-half hours of blissful sleep that I need and – oh, is that a ramen stand?" Suddenly, his eyes gleamed with excitement when it caught something that required his full attention. Leone looked over and saw a ramen stand innocently there…all by itself.

"No ramen," she shot him down immediately; she had a gut feeling that if she let the boy eat ramen, something would go wrong. It didn't matter what, but something bad would happen to her. Like…all the money that she didn't have running out so that they were forced to run away from the stand.

"Damn…but I bought you clothes," Naruto tried to bargain, a pout on his face as he stared up at her with sparkling eyes. She smirked.

"That's not working. You're ten years too early to think you can convince me to give you money," she said, a hand on her hip to finish the image of an authority with swagger. Naruto dropped his helpless image and went to his neutral attitude, his hands in his pockets as he looked away from her and commenced to look around again.

"It was worth a shot," he replied honestly. "Oh look, there's another store for antiques. Hmm…looks fake," he assessed from his quick glance by window shopping. Then, the blond slouched over and trudged through the streets, following Leone obediently, but unwillingly.

"Oh yeah, Naruto. Did you know you scream during your sleep?" Tatsumi suddenly brought up, his irritation as clear as day. The blond gave him a confused stare.

"I don't yell when I sleep. I don't even talk," he denied. The other boy shook his head.

"Nope, you're really loud. I thought I was going to go crazy because of you!" he exclaimed, expressing how he truly felt that morning. Naruto continued to raise his eyebrows at the boy who was accusing him of such a scandalous affair.

"I don't believe you. Do I talk in my sleep, Leone?" the girl turned around and began to walk backwards, her hands behind her back as she smiled sincerely with her eyes closed.

"I don't know about talking in your sleep, but you definitely scream!" she agreed with Tatsumi.

"…I see. Well, I don't think I ever screamed in the wild during my sleep…maybe it has something to do with the bed," Naruto responded honestly. Tatsumi thought about it. Then, the sword-user just began to deadpan.

"Actually, that's a possibility. He was also screaming at the Aria mansion." Leone hummed in thought, her index finger lightly tapping her chin as she raised her eyes in a pondering light. Then, she broke out a large smile and slammed her fist into her open palm.

"Okay! We'll give you a futon!" she concluded. To finalize what she said, she turned around and began to hum happily. All arguments made by the blond thereafter were ignored.

The tour of the capital went decently, although one of the boys was definitely happier than the other.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Night Time)**

"So, you're saying that I can go to the base, but Tatsumi can't?" Naruto asked skeptically, looking between the busty blonde and the sword-wielding teen next to him.

"That's right! Since you agreed to join us, and he hasn't as of yet, there's a difference of privilege!" she stated. A few seconds passed, and then -

"Okay, bye Tatsumi," the blond said without a second of hesitation as he walked out of the cottage. The other boy just stood still, watching Naruto walk out of the cottage, through the door, and then watched silently as the door slammed shut. It opened a few seconds after when Leone went through the door, but not without giving the now lonely boy a wave.

"…I can't believe that he would just leave me like that. Actually…this is Naruto. Of course he would," Tatsumi muttered to himself. He snorted and walked to his room to go to sleep, trying not to get too upset. Then again, he wouldn't have to deal with the blond's screaming in the morning. That thought suddenly put him in a much better mood.

"So, Naruto."

"So, Leone," The blond responded immediately.

"What made you join us? You know that Night Raid does assassinations, right? We leave _no one_ alive." She paused, checking for a reaction, but her audience was looking straight forwards, only moving when she did. She assumed that he was following her guide. Finding no change in emotion visually, she continued. "And there's no kind of glory in our job. We kill, and we're guilty, no matter what anyone says otherwise." Still no reaction. "So, I'm asking what made you join and what makes you think you can kill? You yourself said you have never seen death, correct?"

"Yeah, I've never seen death in front of my own eyes." Leone frowned when Naruto didn't say anything more.

"You know I'm expecting more for your answer, right?"

"My reasons are my own reasons," the blond returned simply and with finality, saying he didn't want to say any more on the issue. He felt inclined to keep to himself, despite the fact that he was taken in by the group of assassins. However, Leone was having none of that. She hastened her pace and turned quickly so that the two were now standing face to face.

"Look, _gaki_. The reason why you chose to join us was because it was a life or death decision, and I can understand why you decided to join. It was a quite easy choice. However, what I need to know is if you're even _willing _to fight! You're so laidback and seemingly so uncaring about everything that I'm uncertain whether you'll even be considered a valuable pick-up!" she said seriously, her tone equaling her no-nonsense expression.

"…I'm don't think I'm afraid of killing. The thought isn't something that scares me," Naruto suddenly said, his cold, blue eyes glowing in the moonlight as he stared at the girl in front of him.

"So what are you afraid of, then?" Leone asked, her eyes radiating with power.

"I'm afraid of death, so I'll do everything in my power to stay alive. If I have to kill to do so, I'll do it. I'm a coward, but that's what makes me strong. I'm lazy, but that's what makes me smart," the blond finished in a neutral tone. Just as quickly as his serious visage appeared, it relapsed into a neutral, yet somewhat whimsical and light one. "However, what you think of me is honestly none of my business. I'm too lazy to even care." Then, Naruto began to walk again, this time taking the lead. He had spotted something that seemed to be out of place inside the mountain. A few seconds later, his prediction came true; there was a giant base that was completely in view.

"That doesn't explain your laidback attitude," she told him, bringing the subject back to the issue at hand. He turned around, looking up at the taller girl.

"If you take on every situation in life with a serious attitude, sooner or later, you're going to break." Leone whistled appreciatively at the deep response.

"Wow, you're surprisingly well-versed and wise for your age," she complimented, clapping her hands. Naruto smirked and turned around as he began to walk towards the base again.

"I know, aren't I?"

"And very cocky, too," she added.

"I'm not denying it." Leone slung her arm around the blond's neck, leaning on the smaller-framed boy as she faced him, their faces just a few inches apart. The two looked at each other as they continued to walk, both of them grinning.

"I think you and me will get along just fine," Leone said cordially. A thoughtful look crossed Naruto's face as he responded.

"Hmm…getting along is too much of a hassle. You guys are just going to have to deal with me, I suppose." Leone laughed loudly, her giggles resounding in the night.

"So, do you actually go by your lazy attitude because of the reason you told me, or is that just how you are?" she asked; the blond's answer made sense, but she felt that it just didn't match his attitude, as far as she knew him.

"Nah, I'm just too indifferent to really care."

This kid was golden.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Next Morning)**

"Naruto, wake up," Leone said, shaking the silent boy on the shoulder. Almost immediately, the sleeping blond shot up and opened his eyes at the same time, a stark contrast from the situation in the previous morning. He groaned when the sunlight struck his eyes, but he quickly adjusted to the light.

"Hmm…oh what's up, Leone?" the yawning teen asked, one of his eyes closed as he stretched his body. He removed the futon from his body and looked down at himself. The blond immediately raised his eyebrows.

"Oh yeah, those are Bulat's clothes," she said, knowing what the blond was thinking.

"Oh…well, I was going to ask how I got into them, but I don't think I really care, honestly," he said, beginning to take off his clothes in front of the girl, showing his complete unconcern for his body's privacy. Leone's began to sparkle and her grin widened to lecherous standards when his shirt came off, exposing the surprisingly chiseled stomach and lean arms that were packed with muscles.

"I thought you said you were lazy. How do you have muscles like that?" she asked curiously, not taking her eyes off the free show occurring before her." The other blond didn't even seemed disturbed that he was being eyed so hungrily by the girl next to him. Well, it's not that she was looking at him out of lust, but more for fun. She was trying to see how far he would actually go with this game. Little did she know that Naruto really _didn't _care for his privacy…at all.

"Just because I'm lazy doesn't mean that I don't do the things I have to do. I told you I had to steal to survive for a while; that required to me be able to run away if I was caught. I'm pretty sure you know the details though, since you guys are probably much better at it than I," he replied and explained quietly, now taking off his pajama shorts, exposing his boxers.

"Hmm…is that so?" she asked, watching with wide eyes when Naruto grabbed the cotton of his boxers and began to pull it down. At that moment, to the chagrin of Leone and for the sake of Naruto's privacy, which he didn't really care about, Mine came at that moment and saw what was occurring at the door. Moving at the speed of sound, she suddenly dashed her from position outside of the room to the inside, placing her arm over Leone's eyes as she began to pull the girl away.

"Hey, what are you doing? He's not actually going to do it!" Leone said, still getting blinded by the arm in front of her eyes.

"He's in his _boxers_. That's bad enough isn't it? And – OH MY GOD! DON'T ACTUALLY TAKE IT OFF IN FRONT OF GIRLS!" Mine screamed with her shut closed shut when Naruto actually pulled the boxers down and grabbed a freshly cleaned one lying on the bed that he did not sleep on. She continuously let out a stream of words and insults as she carefully trying to back away from the room.

"What, he actually took it off?" Leone asked in a surprised tone, but her smile seemed to be a bit out of place in the situation. A few seconds later, Naruto was in his shorts, which was enough for Mine to open her eyes and release her hold on the girl in her arms.

"Geez, Mine. Why'd you do that?" Leone asked in a joking tone, her eyes full of mirth. The pink-haired girl puffed out her cheeks and pointed at Naruto with a glare.

"Because he actually went stark naked! Who the hell does that?" She screamed at the now fully dressed boy. Naruto put his pinky in his ear and scratched the itch that was bothering him. A few moments later, he took it out and stared at his pinky. Nothing.

'_Must be that girl that's just bothering me.' _He looked up and saw Mine still arguing with the laughing Leone.

"I don't see what the issue is. I was changing; if Leone wanted to stay, that's her own decision." Mine gave him a death glare.

"Are you saying you don't even care if she saw your…" she stopped, too embarrassed to say the word. Her face was turning a tomato red from the simple thought. Oh, how close she had gotten to seeing something that would have traumatized her for years to come.

Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"My what? I have nothing to hide."

"Your penis," Leone told him bluntly. Naruto just raised his eyebrows.

"My what?" he asked in a confused tone, bewilderment clear in his face. The two of them deadpanned at him.

"You…you're serious, aren't you?" Leone asked, but it sounded like a statement. Mine just nodded with Leone, agreeing with her; Naruto seemed like he had no idea what the girls were talking about.

"I don't get what you two are saying." Naruto stared at the two girls with an indifferent look.

"…"

"…Why don't you deal with this, Mine? I have to watch Tatsumi again until I can convince him to join us," Leone said, suddenly shifting the responsibility of explaining to the other flustered girl. Mine tried to protest, but Leone was already running; by the time Mine turned around, Leone was nowhere to be seen. The girl slowly turned her head back forwards when she heard a certain blond cough in front of her, vying for her attention. He looked at her with an expectant look.

"So, you want to explain?" he asked. Mine just began to scream and ran out the door, leaving a very confused Naruto.

"I'M NOT DOING IT! NO! NO! NO!" was heard throughout the base. Leone nearly fell over laughing, but she managed to stay calm enough to not fall down the stairs.

"Hahaha! Man, this is the greatest!" the blonde Teigu user shouted when she was outside, the recent event lighting up her spirits considerably. This day was going to be great; she could just feel it.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Twelve Hours Later)**

This day was going absolutely terribly for Mine. That blond, Naruto, was absolutely awful! What Leone saw in him, she had no idea.

First off, Naruto had no common sense. Or maybe he had never seen civilization before. That would explain some of the actions he did that day, but it wouldn't excuse him at all in her mind. Seriously, who goes to the bathroom and then uses the sink as the toilet? Was he doing it for fun or just to mess with her? At least he got a berating from Bulat, but that turned awkward quite quickly when Naruto found out that spear-handler was gay…after the blond was explained as to what a gay or a homo meant.

Secondly, who in their right mind cooks ramen for lunch and dinner when asked to prepare food? When the members of Night Raid ordered him to cook food alongside Akame, they were surprised to find out that ramen would be their dish. They accepted the fact that it was delicious, but it was definitely not something that would be considered a wholesome food. Not that Akame seemed to really care about that. But that was all after Naruto cooked ramen for himself and was told repeatedly he needed to cook for everyone, and that took quiet some convincing…and threatening from Akame.

Finally, the incident that occurred in the morning just gave Mine a glimpse of how much Naruto didn't know about life in general. Just to give _one _incident that occurred afterwards that day so that everyone can understand, let's go back a few hours.

**XShuyaX**

**(Flashback: Midday)**

"_Is this the bathroom?" a voice asked from outside, which was answered with a quick confirmation. A moment later, the door handle was shaken, but it didn't move since it was locked. Mine looked at the door from inside, taking a bath to try and ease her mind. _

"_Who is it?" she asked. However, her voice seemed to increase the pace the door handle was twisted._

"_Oh no! The door locked and someone's trapped in there! Don't worry, I'll save you!" the voice shouted, who she now was able to identity as Naruto._

"_No, DON'T!" she shouted as she stood up in her surprise, but it was too late. The door was kicked inwards as the lock gave way under a powerful kick, something that she didn't even seem to care about at that moment. Well, the other person that saw the kick was intrigued. Akame gave Naruto a quiet appraisal from behind the boy, but otherwise remained silent._

_The naked Mine stared with wide eyes at the neutral expression that Naruto was giving her. Suddenly, she dropped to the water and wrapped her arms around her small figure, hoping her knees were hiding enough of her body. Then, she began to scream. The boy looked over at Akame with a confused look in his eyes._

"_Wait, I helped her, didn't I? Why is she screaming?" he asked. _

"_She was taking a bath," she replied. As if that explained everything. _

"_Yeah, I can see that she's still taking one. But the door was locked," he said, as if that explained his point of view. Akame actually raised her eyebrows, showing some emotions. _

"_I don't understand what you're saying. She locked the door so that she could have privacy."_

"_Can you two not talk as if I'm not here, naked inside the room?!" Mine shouted from her position, hoping that the steam inside the room was covering her up as well as she shakily tried to grab the towel. Naruto looked over in her direction, still with a bewildered look._

"_I'm so confused. Can I just use the bathroom?" he asked, slowly entering the room. _

"_NO!" Mine shouted._

"_Why? I need to go, and the next bathroom is like…a thousand steps away. That's way too much of a hassle when there's a bathroom right here. Just share!" the blond told her, trying to get his way. _

"_NOOO!" Mine roared, suddenly moving. Naruto widened his eyes when he saw a light growing brighter and brighter in a concentrated circle…pointing straight at him. "Strike him, Pumpkin!"_

_Naruto barely jumped out of the way in time, the laser beam shooting right above his back. However, it still managed to singe his clothing. Akame, who had seen it coming, just tilted her head to the side, letting the beam pass by her by the barest of margins. _

"_What the hell are you doing?!" Naruto shouted. "Just share the damn bathroom!" Another light pointed in his direction shut him up._

"_If you want to live, you'll get out," Mine growled out threateningly, a strangely placed smile on her face. She was standing now, a towel wrapped around her small-figure, hugging her rather small curves, but they were still there. The blond dashed out of the bathroom without another word from his mouth. He wanted to live, but he needed to use the bathroom, damn it! What was so wrong with sharing?_

**XShuyaX**

**(Flashback End)**

Mine furrowed her eyebrows in complete anger just thinking about it. How embarrassing! And Naruto didn't even seem to care. He never apologized the whole day, not even understanding what he had done wrong.

The girl was sitting in the kitchen, her head resting on the palms of her hands as she stared into space with an angry look. Suddenly, the bane of her existence beginning from that day appeared in front of her.

"What do _you_ want?" she asked with a clearly irritated tone, her eyebrows scrunching together even further in her ire. The blond stared at her for a few seconds before slowly, Naruto lifted his right hand. She watched it warily as it rose, stopping until it was parallel to her head. Then, he quickly moved it forward and poked her forehead. She raised her hands to her forehead in surprise from the action, dropping her angry look, only to don another visage of anger a moment later.

"Hmm…you looked better without the anger. You know that scrunching your eyebrows will ruin your face, right?" the blond told her. She relaxed her eyebrows and stared at the blond in front of her; was that concern she saw in his eyes? However, as quickly as she thought she saw it, the emotion disappeared in his mask of indifference. Naruto seated himself in a chair next to the girl, sighing as he relaxed into the chair.

There was a silence between the two. Mine didn't know what to say, while Naruto had his eyes closed with his head back against the chair's end, looking up to the ceiling with a relaxed posture. The pink-haired girl looked at him and thought that relaxing wasn't that bad of an idea, so she copied his posture. Just when she was getting relaxed and about to sigh in content, the blond had to break the peaceful silence, something she thought was impossible with him.

"I'm sorry…for today. I'm not really sure what I did wrong, but I apologize because it seems like I gave you a lot of trouble today." Mine remained silent with her eyes still closed; she was unsure how to respond to that. She gave him way too much trouble for her to forgive him that easily. "I'm just…confused, in all honestly. So, until I actually understand how things work around here and have an adequate understanding of how people interact, please take care of me."

The girl just stared at him, surprised. From what she got to know of his character, she wasn't really expecting an apology. He seemed lazy and he didn't seem to understand what he did wrong, but at least he had apologized. She closed her eyes and looked away in a higher-than-thou manner, but it wasn't out of actual discrimination or belittlement this time around.

"Hmph. Well…if the newbie apologizes, I guess I have to accept." The blond grinned. Then, he stood from his chair, pushing himself up with his palm against the table. He walked over to the ingredients in the pantry and pulled out a few objects, but Mine wasn't looking at him. She saw what he was doing in her peripheral vision.

"You want some?" the blond asked, assuming that the girl knew he was going to cook ramen. She looked at him.

"You're really going to eat the junk in the middle of the night?" Suddenly, his murderous gaze was upon her, his presence taking over the whole room. Mine hitched, not expecting this kind of reaction from Naruto. However, as soon as it appeared, the murderous aura and his gaze lost its intent, and the blond was back to cooking. He turned on the stove; the fire roared to life.

"Hmm…to each their own. You could've just said you didn't want any," he told her. Mine agreed; she didn't want to see Naruto like that again. She was totally fine with him being normal in his standards: lazy, bored, always with a sardonic or genuine smile on his face. Well, she didn't know him for long, but she assumed that's how he was.

"I'll be going to sleep now. Don't take too long." She was the last person up other than Naruto, so she didn't want Naruto to get lost or have any issues with the members if he accidently screwed something up in the kitchen or any other location of the base. The blond nodded silently, telling her that he had understood her instructions, but his focus was on the ramen now stewing quickly in the stove. The smell of spice and cooked vegetables wafted in the air, almost convincing Mine to take back her refusal of ramen, but she held strong and walked out of the kitchen.

Seems like it was a different story for Akame; the girl was shuffling into the kitchen in her sleepwear with sleepy eyes.

"May I have some?" she asked in a sleepy tone. The other two assumed the girl had just woken up, and Mine guessed that the smell of ramen had woke her up.

"Sure! Ramen is always better with a partner!"

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Two Days Later)**

"Did Tatsumi decide to join?" Naruto asked from his seat across from Sheele. The two were both reading their own books. Sheele was reading on ways to not be an airhead. Naruto was reading a book on how to not be stupid; he borrowed a book from Sheele. Well, it wasn't like he really minded. The book was interesting and had a few funny points, so he found himself reading it silently across its owner for an hour. He was engaged in his reading when the door suddenly opened, and in came Leone with a reluctant yet interested Tatsumi in tow.

"No, I'm just showing him around the base. Sheele, do me a favor and give him some warm words to encourage him to join us," Leone asked in a light tone. Sheele lowered her book to her lap and then gave her attention to Tatsumi.

"Now that you have seen our base, you have two choices: join or die." Leone laughed. Tatsumi blanched. Naruto just brought his book back up and continued his reading.

"That was…so warm, I feel my heart bursting from the heat of passion. Thank you," Tatsumi mumbled sarcastically. Everyone heard it, but they decided not to speak upon his sarcasm.

"Okay, we'll be going now. See you guys later!" Naruto put his book face down against the table in such a way that he could keep his page.

"Wait. Where are you guys going?" the blond male asked coolly, his eyes slowly turning over to the two leaving the room. Leone turned around halfway, stopping in her leave.

"Huh, you want to come with us? I'm just giving him a tour of the base and introducing the members. We got through Bulat and Sheele, so we still have a few to go," Leone explained. Naruto silently stood up from his position. Then, he slid his book over to the girl across from him with a short smile.

"Thank you for the book. I hope that you'll let me read it later on and that you would allow me to borrow some later on today," he said cordially. When she gave him a curt nod, he smiled again and turned to walk out with the other two. Once the three were outside and walking along the halls of the base, the blond girl gave him a inquisitive look from her eyes.

"So…why did you join us? You already know what the base looks like and you know all of the members, so what's up?" Naruto remained silent. The three pairs of footsteps resounded and echoes down the corridor on which they walked.

"Is it because you want to bother Akame again?" she asked, suddenly looking interested. The other blond remained silent again, although there was a small twitch in his facial expression, which Leone noticed. "I see. Well, just don't let her get the wrong idea now!"

"What idea?" Naruto spoke for the first time since they had left the room. He looked genuinely confused as he furrowed his eyebrows and bit his lower lip in thought. When Leone didn't respond, the blond rolled his eyes and pulled out two dice from his pocket and began to play with them, tossing them in the air or expertly juggling them in his hands. Although this action wouldn't merit that much attention from normal people, Leone was surprised.

"Naruto, how did you learn to do that?" she asked, her eyes shining with excitement. She had given the blond the pair of cubes two days ago because she wanted to teach him how to gamble. But this was far more than she had expected! The way he was using the dice in his hands made him seem as if he were a seasoned expert at the gambling occupation, and his blank face and neutral gaze would be perfect as his poker face!

"Constant practice," he replied in a monotonous tone, not breaking his gaze from the cubes going up in the air.

"Wow. Maybe you aren't as lazy as I thought!" Naruto suddenly stopped talking, placing his complete focus into the dice. "So…how good do you think you are?" Leone asked, unperturbed by his silence. A few moments of silence, and Naruto finally answered.

"Enough to bet my life," he told her seriously, not even cracking his voice in the slightest by the ridiculous answer. Tatsumi choked on his nonexistent chicken that got caught in his throat. Leone just widened her eyes before smiling; oh, he would be the perfect gambler for sure! She would make certain of it.

"Wait, what?! Why would you bet your life?" Tatsumi exclaimed, barely keeping his voice down to a level that didn't make people cringe and grab their ears. The blond sighed, as if too exasperated to even want to explain.

"Maybe because I don't want to fight and if I gamble my life, they should gamble theirs? And if I win, they should just kill themselves." Now, the two deadpanned. Here, they thought that the blond would actually try hard for something, namely, dice. And now, they found out that he only tried hard to learn how to play with dice only to be lazier on another aspect, life, which is subjectively much more important than a lot of other things a person can own.

The rest of the way outside and to the river bank, Leone spoke with Tatsumi while Naruto began to spin the dice through his fingers, much like a person would with pencils and cards.

"Hey, Akame!" Leone greeted with a shout and a wave once they all saw her in the distance. The girl that was called turned from her rock and just gave the three a quick nod. When her eyes spotted Naruto, she narrowed her pupils slightly, but otherwise, there was no outward change in expression.

"Would you like an evil bird?" She asked quietly, her hand holding three sticks of something akin to chicken. Naruto and Leone took them immediately without a moment's hesitation, giving the girl their thanks. Tatsumi, however, decided to not take it, although it was later stated by Akame that she wouldn't have given it to him since he hadn't joined yet.

"Hey, Akame," Leone started in between bites. "Why are you cooking these? There isn't a rare occasion, right?"

"Leader's back." That was explanation enough for Leone. The girl just made a circle with her mouth and nodded her head. And as Akame said, the boss was back…and literally on the back of Leone.

"Yo!" a woman sitting on a rock greeted. She was wearing a professional suit and tie outfit, a strange mechanical-like arm on her right arm, and on the same side of her body, her right eye was patched. Leone smiled and greeted her while the other three just watched on silently at the exchange.

"Putting the souvenirs aside, Leone, I heard that you went over the time of operation on the mission three days ago." Leone just continued to smile as she backed away slowly…and then an all out sprint as she tried to turn tail. However, the mechanical arm burst forward with speed that Leone couldn't match.

"Shouldn't we help her?" he asked when the girl started to cry for mercy.

"Nope/No," were the quick responses. He figured that would be their responses. "She still has my vase."

"Who are these two?" the boss asked once she had finally stopped giving Leone her quick punishment. She was retracting her arm slowly back into place, giving the two boys an appraising look. Leone got back up on her feet and, as if she had not been roughed up any bit, grabbed Tatsumi in a neck hold.

"This one has a lot of talent! I recommend him!" she said, giving Tatsumi a shake to emphasize the boy. The boss just nodded.

"What about the blond?" she pointed out as she watched Naruto eating his cooked evil bird slowly. He was giving the meat a confused look. He gave it another bite, chewed it slowly…and then spit it out.

"Doesn't taste that bad actually. Didn't think that there would be so many bones inside."

"Thos aren't bones. That is also meat," Akame pointed out quietly, looking heatedly at the meat that was now spoiled on the floor. Naruto just nodded his head in understanding, taking another bite and this time chewing it until he swallowed.

"Still feels like a bone."

The boss just stared silently.

"…And the blond?" she asked again. The sword-wielding girl gave Leone a pointed look that said 'you-explain'. So, the blonde girl gave her best, disarming smile as she chuckled half-heartedly to herself and said –

"Well…um…I'm not really sure. He seems to have a lot of talent an-"

"Do you want to be punished again?" the boss interrupted in a no-nonsense tone, her eyes darkening into serious orbs. And it seemed like the punishment this time would be a lot worse than just a simple one.

"I vouch for him," Akame cut in when Leone didn't respond, who was getting ready to run again, and this time with their **Teigu **active. Najenda gave the black-haired girl a look for a long pause.

"…Fine. Everyone is to gather in the meeting room. I want to know the details of the mission three days ago…and about those two…especially the blond."

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Meeting Room)**

"Tatsumi…would you like to join Night Raid?" Najenda asked once she was briefed with the details and the current situation. The assassins were all standing in their normal positions about the room, just with two other members. Naruto and Tatsumi were standing directly in center.

"I'm dead if I don't join, right?"

"No," she immediately shut down the possibility of death. "However, you would be a laborer in our workshop, which I think would not suit your capabilities."

"I wanted to go to the capital and join the army and become successful to help my village, which is suffering from poverty-" Naruto yawned right next to the boy, who stopped and slowly turned his head to the blond beside him with a very annoyed look.

"What?" the blond asked once he noticed the glare and looked at the boy, a hand still over his mouth. "I don't need to know your life story and how you wanted to join the army. The question was whether you want to join **Night Raid**. Answer the damn question so I can sleep or eat ramen." The rest of the members, other than Najenda and Akame, began to chuckle at Naruto's very blunt and candid statement.

"Are you sure you should be saying anything at all, Naruto? From what I see, you have no skill to show as of yet to the whole group," Najenda said, cutting the jovial atmosphere with a quick, slicing statement. Every member was now looking at the bored blond, who dug his pinky into his ear and then flicked the wax off his finger.

"Right now, I could have seventy-six traps inside this room, each of which can kill any of you ten times over. The person with the armored suit would last only twelve of the traps I have planted. I don't think his armor can block him from feeling blunt force or simple pain. And he's not the only one that would be safe; at least five traps would be directed at a person with a certain weapons…except you for, Leader-sama. After all, I only met you today," Naruto stated in a cold tone, his eyes glowing a bright blue as he hair seemed to begin to billow from a certain power rising inside of him. The pressure and atmosphere in the room suddenly increased ten-fold.

"Yeah, I'm a dangerous water boy," the blond joked, a well-placed smirk on his lips. The tension suddenly disappeared once they realized what Naruto was implying; the whole thing was a bluff. But that was something scary as well. None of them felt that he was lying. His words, his stance, the way his eyes were dead ice – everything said that he wasn't lying. They weren't even sure if he was joking about whether he knew about traps or not.

"Am I considered useful now?" he asked. Najenda immediately shook her head.

"No. You may be good with words, but that doesn't mean you are good with assassinations." The bored look returned to Naruto as he slouched his shoulders and kicked his foot on the floor.

"Damn. And I was hoping words were enough to convince you. I really don't like moving a lot."

"And that's a trait we're going to have to fix if you stay." Naruto groaned in despair. "Tatsumi, will you join?" Najenda asked, returning to the topic previously.

"I'm not…sure. I feel like killing just some individuals won't make a difference."

"How about killing the Prime Minister?" the blond next to him asked, stopping Najenda from going on a long explanation.

"Killing the Pr-prime Minister?!" Tatsumi shouted scandalously. Just the thought of killing such an authority gave him goose bumps.

"Yeah. The prime minister," he repeated. "I'm not joking," Naruto said, defending his position when Tatsumi gave him a disbelieving look. "Look around you. None of them are rebuking me or laughing at me."

And Tatsumi realized…that Naruto was speaking the truth.

"If that's the case…okay, even before that. Let's say we _do _kill the Prime Minister. What happens then? Will the capital be better? Will my village be saved?" he asked, his eyes suddenly seeming desperate for the right answer. And Najenda aced the test.

"It will help the country." Suddenly, a fire lit in the boy's eyes and resolution filled his heart.

"So…we're like…Assassins of Justice, right?" he asked fervently, his fist in front of him. Everyone burst into laughter; even Akame gave a quick chuckle. Well, other than Naruto. He was digging into his other ear, so he didn't hear properly. Something about 'Assassins of Justice'. And then everyone laughing, and Leone saying something about how all they do is murder.

'_That's a lie. You still didn't give the vase you stole. You stole it. Didn't murder it. Stoooole it!' _Naruto drawled out mentally, now looking up at the ceiling with his hands in his pockets.

"Will I be rewarded?" Tatsumi asked.

"Enough to save your village and maybe even a town," That was the right answer. Tatsumi put his fist against his chest with an audible thump and stated his loyalty.

"Then let me join **Night Raid**!" Najenda smiled. Another person in the rankings.

"Well then. Welcome to the path of carnage."

Not a moment later, Lubbock looked at the back of his hand and notified the group of eight individuals trying to infiltrate the base.

"This is an emergency. Don't let any of them escape alive!" she ordered. Once again, the mood darkened, and this time, it wasn't a joke.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Forest)**

"Why are you coming with me?" Akame asked, running swiftly down the forest path, trying to find the supposed infiltrators. Well, they hadn't infiltrated yet, but they were damn close. And close was way too far in.

"Because I felt like it and you were the only one that vouched for me. Not like Leader-sama would let me go with other members, right?" Akame actually gave that statement a thought.

"She would have placed you with me," she admitted. "Why do you call her Leader-sama?"

"I forgot her name," he stated without batting an eyelash. "Actually, I don't even recall hearing her name." It was only with Akame's expertise in the area of neutrality that she prevented herself from sighing or crashing into a tree by laughing at the stupidity of the blond like a certain other blonde would. However, that doesn't mean she wouldn't make a certain physical response. She sped up her run and began to dash by jumping through the trees, leaving the blond in the dust.

"I'm not even going to try to keep up with that. I'll just sit against a tree, I guess," Naruto decided. Going through with his actions, he leaned against a tree and closed his eyes, letting himself fall into tune with the nature all around him. However, the peace was ruined when the sounds of leaves cracking and ruffling violated the silence.

"Hey, there's someone here!" someone shouted. The cracking increased and the sounds of three pairs of footsteps quickly followed. The people were sprinting. A moment later, three people burst into the forest area that resembled a clearing. The three people watched the silent blond warily, who still had his eyes closed and his back against the tree.

"Should we kill him?" one asked.

"Yeah, we should."

"Wait, we should bring him back with us to interrogate him!" the third exclaimed. And the three continued to argue amongst each, now blatantly losing focus on the person that was in front of them.

"How about-" a voice began behind them, making them jump up in fright and turn around warily. The blond was behind them, his arms crossed over his chest as he cocked his eyebrow, his blue eyes curiously staring at the three. "you three just shut up and let me listen to Nature in peace, would you? Or, I could just, you know, kill you all." That riled the three up.

"You think you can kill us? You're just a kid!"

"That's right. And it's three on one!"

"We'll kill you first!" Naruto remained silent, standing a good amount of feet away from them.

"Says the three that didn't even notice me walking behind them," he stated, letting his statement linger in the air. "That's right. I can kill all three of you right here, any time I want. However, I want to do this different." Naruto pulled out two dice from his jacket pocket and threw the two into the air to make the infiltrators place their focus on the cubes.

"Let's a play a game…with our lives on the line, shall we?" Naruto snarled with enticement, his smirk widening, showing his deadly canines. The three prevented themselves from stepping backwards by trying to stay strong, but they felt that the blond in front of them wasn't lying. The way one hand was in his pocket, his relaxed position against a new tree; everything pointed to his absolute confidence in his ability to demolish them.

"What's the game?" the one in the middle asked. Naruto grinned, happy he wouldn't have to fight…or correctly stated, run away.

"Oh, it's really easy. Just roll these two dice and whoever gets the highest number wins. Of course, all three of you can roll; I'll only roll once," he explained. If anything, the advantage he gave to the three seemed to frighten them even more. The blond threw the two dice, which they caught hesitantly.

The first got a nine. Naruto grinned.

The second got a three. His grinned widened.

The last infiltrator got an eleven. He was still smirking. And that was freaking the hell out of the three.

"Ah, an eleven. Nice, good, double-digit number, huh?" the blond stated rhetorically as he bent down to pick it up, not even looking at the three in front of him as he gather his two cubes. "However…" he played with the dice in his hands, his face losing all emotion as he threw the dice. "…it's not good enough. Your lives are forfeit."

The three looked on with fright as the cubes hit the ground and…the blond got a two.

"Huh. That wasn't supposed to happen. Pretty sure I put just the right amount of spin and push based on my height position. Weird," Naruto stated, scratching the back of his head as he picked up the dice. Apparently, his loss was more important than the bet over his life at that moment.

"Hey, that means we can kill you now, right?" The three of them began to walk towards him, their swords now out of their sheaths.

"Um…how about a re-roll?" Naruto asked pleadingly, a fake smile plastered on his face. They responded with a charge and a passionate roar. He ran.

"HELP!" he screamed, sprinting through the forest. At one point, he was certain he heard a bullet – or a laser – report through the forest, but he wasn't really caring all that much about a bullet unless it pierced the three charging after him.

'_Where the hell is Akame?' _he screamed internally, jumping against a tree branch and jumping onto a higher branch. However, it seemed his agility on the trees were all for naught; the three behind him were still after him, and they were still gaining ground. That is, until Naruto tripped on a branch and fell twenty feet and landed face first.

"That was perfectly planned," he muttered to himself as he picked up himself off the ground and began to sprint again. If Akame wasn't going to find him, he was going to find something that would help him fight. However, his plans of finding a weapon didn't seem like it would bear fruit because the three pursuers had jumped down and surrounded him in a triangle. So, Naruto grabbed the first two things he found: dirt and a stick. He bent into a fighting position.

"You guys really don't want to fight me. Trust me. You guys don't want to see me get serious!" he warned without any real threat now; the gig was up. The three were closing in on him. Every step they took was in time with his heartbeat. The blood in his body began to pump wildly and without control, and the sweat glands began to release chemicals as his pupils shrank and became highly focused. At that moment, everything was clear.

He would have to actually fight. No more running. But all he had was a stick and some dirt. The blond grit his teeth; he would have to take the initiative.

"We're gonna kill you kid."

"Thought you could run away, did ya?"

Naruto roared and sprinted forward as fast as he could with his already burnt-out legs, but it was fast enough. He threw the dirt in his left hand, getting it into the eye of the opponent in front of him. The affected person began to swipe through the air with his sword, but Naruto ducked just in time. The blade swiped cleanly through one of the tips of his hair, but that wouldn't kill him. He would survive through his ordeal, even if it meant he had to kill.

Suddenly, the blond was behind the blinded attacker, and he swung his dense stick as hard as he could at the person's skull with a roar that echoed through the forest. That crack that followed afterwards was almost as loud.

The person Naruto struck down fell to the floor slowly. He was dead, but the face showed shock, as if he couldn't believe he had been struck down. Naruto slowly bent down and grabbed the sword on the ground.

"Unwieldy, but it'll have to do." He looked up at the two remaining infiltrators and narrowed his eyes. Any moment now, his legs would wear down and his speed would be drastically reduced. But he wanted to live, damn it all! Another round of adrenaline electrolyzed his body, making shivers tingle down the length of his skin.

The two charged at him as one, jumping in the air at the same time. Naruto cursed internally. He may have been able to fight one at a time and maybe two of them if he had training, but he would not able to block two swords with heavy momentum. He just wasn't built for that kind of strength!

Blood sprayed in the air, and Naruto dropped to the ground, bum first. Two thumps sounded right after his fall. The crimson liquid splashed against the ground and his frightened face as he slowly looked down, and then behind him. There were the two men; both were face down on the ground with blood oozing out of their necks. Each had a cut on their jugulars. Then, the blond looked up and saw Akame miraculously right in front of him. She had saved him.

"Are you alright?" she asked, actually showing some worry through her eyes. Naruto slowly nodded. The adrenaline was running out, and exhaustion was kicking in. The girl noticed this and immediately sheathed her blade and helped him up by pulling his arm over her shoulder.

"You did well to hold them until I could help. I'm sorry that I ran off, but I noticed that Tatsumi had an issue with his fight," she explained, but she knew that her apology wouldn't solve everything; her actions had almost cost his death.

"It's fine." Akame widened her eyes at the blond's surprisingly flippant tone. "You came right? So it's okay!" the blond said with a smile and a thumbs-up. She showed genuine confusion when she spoke again.

"I don't understand. Because of me, you almost died." Naruto's grin changed to a knowing smile.

"Oh…haha. Don't worry about that! It'll take a lot more than three of their caliber to kill me," he boasted. She was put that information in the back of her mind, but assumed it was mainly just bragging. However, maybe that information would be useful in the future.

"Let's go back to the base. We have to report and I'm going to assume you'll have to be trained." Naruto's expression shifted immediately into a marring frown.

"Well…shit."

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Other part of the Forest)**

"Got saved by Akame, huh?" Bulat asked rhetorically to the silent boy. Tatsumi was deep in thought, recalling the fight in his mind. That man _tricked _him, and for his foolishness for even believing in the infiltrator, he would've died on his first hour with **Night Raid.**

"Damn it…" he whispered, clenching his fist. He would need to become stronger…much stronger. And also much more determined.

'_Don't waver. You should land the killing blow promptly.' _Akame's criticism echoed in his head and repeated over and over again.

"Damn it. I'll become stronger, and you'll have to admit it…" he slowly said.

He would get what he wished for. He would learn how to kill from **Night Raid's **red-eyed assassin along with Naruto.

**Chapter End.**

**Teigus:**

**Bulat: Demon Armor - Incursio**

**Akame: One Cut Killer - Murasame**

**Mine: Roman Artillery - Pumpkin**

**Lubbock: Infinite Uses - Cross Tail**

**Leone: Animal Kingdom - Lionelle**

**Naruto: ? - ?**

**Was this chapter okay? I hope so…I know it's still following canon, and it will, but not word by word and all that stuff. Things **_**will **_**change, I assure you. Some will live, and others will…live. Well, unless I find a way to kill some characters off…hehehe. **

**So, leave a review and tell me what you think! I hope that I mixed the humor and the serious well enough. Hopefully. **

**KenzoXShuyita, Peacing Out!**


	3. Chapter 3: First Loss

**Chapter 3: First Loss**

**A/N: I really don't feel like writing anything right now for this Author's Note. I hope you enjoy this chapter. :D**

**Disclaimer: Everyone knows I don't own Naruto or Akame ga Kiru.**

**Chapter 3 START**

Tatsumi sighed as he continued to cook meals in the kitchen. The cooking techniques that Ieyasu and Sayo had forcefully taught him were being fully placed into the bowls and plates of delectable food onto the table. His partners at the moment, Naruto and Akame, were of no help, since the two were actually eating a few of the ingredients before the finished product was created.

Akame was giving Naruto curious glances every once in a while, taking a bite and giving the blond a look from the corner of her eyes. Something was bothering her. The blond was smiling right now, and every time he took another bite, his smile widened. She frowned in her thoughts.

**XShuyaX**

**(Flashback: One Day Before)**

_She could see the blond. He was surrounded by three people, each with a kind of bandana on their foreheads. The three raised their blades, and Naruto raised his stick and hand with dirt as he lowered his stance. Akame increased her pace to try and reach him. Her eyes widened when she saw him sprint forwards._

'_Don't!' She thought internally. He was a newbie, and she was unsure whether or not he would survive this confrontation. However, her fears were unproven when the blond threw the dirt in his hand, effectively blinding the opponent before him temporarily._

_But that's when things went strange. He was suddenly much faster than before, sliding on the ground in a quick semi-circle, appearing behind the opponent in the blink of an eye. That speed was completely separate from the speed at which he was fleeing before. However, that one explosive burst of movement seemed to have exhausted him. Luckily, she was there in time and prevented his death by stopping the other two._

_At least, that's what she thought. When he said those three couldn't kill him, she actually thought about it. 'Maybe he's speaking the truth. Or is he just bragging?' _

**XShuyaX**

**(Flashback End)**

"Damn it, Naruto! Stop taking soup from the stove! That's not just test-checking the flavor!" Tatsumi ordered, clearly irritated. The blond he called out looked up from his bowl and tilted his head.

"Okay. Then how do I taste check it?" he asked. The cook for the night gave the blond an extremely small cup and an even smaller spoon.

"Use these," he told the blond. When he turned around, he was muttering to himself something about dumb blondes. Naruto seemed to pick up on it, since his facial expression changed and he increased the frequency of his 'taste-checking'. Akame just watched silently when Tatsumi began to yell at the blond. She wouldn't say anything about it; she didn't need any attention to herself as she took another bite of the chicken that he cooked.

Silently eat it. Silently.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Next Morning)**

"So…is there a reason why we're going up this mountain?" Tatsumi huffed out, clearly out of breath. The large basket on his back was not making things any easier at the moment. He looked over to find Naruto, breathing calmly as he lazily climbed upwards, copying Akame's movement perfectly, constantly yawning as he rose to the top.

"We're going to get food," she told him, not even looking down to face him when she responded. The slope had a lot of rocks and roots on the ground, as well as footfalls, so keeping up with Akame was difficult since she had memorized the layout of the land. Not only that, but the slope was steep, requiring all three of them to continuously hike with their knees high.

"That's not all, right? This is also training for the legs, isn't it?" Naruto pointed out, yawning again with his right hand covering his mouth. "Uwah, I don't know why I'm so tired today."

"You should've slept less. Constantly sleeping just makes you even more tired in general. And yes, this is also an exercise for the muscles around the calves and thighs," Akame explained.

"That's fine and all, but we've been walking for nearly an hour. Is this okay?" Tatsumi asked, taking a look around. The moment he turned around, he was exposed to the scenery below that was now visible, and it was breathtaking. Fall was coming, and with the cooling season came a multitude of colors that blended with the trees. Something about the setting struck a chord inside him.

"Nature sure is nice, isn't it?" Naruto said besides him, giving a quiet look of respect to Mother Nature as he silently stared on. Tatsumi just nodded solemnly, still in awe.

"Yeah," he breathed out, enraptured.

"We're here," Akame said a few meters above them, interrupting their landscape-gazing. The two boys turned around and looked up, and before them was a waterfall and small pond of water. Then, the feeling of cool mist hit their heated faces, and the sound of cascading waters and chirping birds reached their ears.

"Woah, there was a waterfall?" Tatsumi shouted, rushing up the last few meters. Naruto followed at a much more sedate pace, slowly placing his basket carefully on the ground when he had reached their destination. "This is a really nice place…but what exactly are we here for?"

"We are here to eliminate the underwater prey," Akame said as she began to remove her shirt. Tatsumi began to shout in surprise and crossed his arms over his eyes when the hem of the shirt was right underneath her breast-line, but it didn't matter. She had a two-piece underneath. "These clothes allow the most underwater mobility. We're here to catch the large river tuna."

"Doesn't being naked allow the most underwater mobility?" Naruto asked. Akame turned to him and shook her head.

"No. The swim suit reduces the surface area of the body and flattens out all curves," she explained. Naruto nodded in understanding as he began to walk towards the edge of the water. Tatsumi deadpanned at the two.

'_And they don't say anything about privacy issues?' _He thought to himself, finding the two becoming stranger and stranger in his eyes.

Akame dove in headfirst in a beautiful dive, creating almost no splash. A moment later, scores of fish flew into the air and escaped its natural habitat. A few landed inside the basket Akame left at the side. A moment later, her head popped from under the water, her breasts and cleavage somewhat visible from above water.

"Erase your presence and swim along the riverbed. When the prey comes, you strike at that instant," she said, catching her breath only for a moment before speaking again. "This will require everything you have. Can you handle it?"

It only took a moment for Tatsumi to respond to the challenge. He hurriedly began to remove the articles of clothing and gave a thumbs-up and a wide smile as he shouted "Bring it on!" Akame nodded, and then gave a look to Naruto.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Just give me a second." Unlike Tatsumi, who had excitedly jumped into the water and was now trying his best to catch fish, crying loudly every time he failed, the blond was much more under control and subdued. He placed one foot in the water, gauging the temperature, and then slowly went into the water with the floating basket next to him. Akame just stared at him as he went in the water and just lied on his back and floated across the water, humming to himself as he drifted along the surface. Tatsumi continued to groan and shout as he splashed the water.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Night Time)**

The members of Night Raid were at the table, contentedly eating their dinner. The normal sounds of chopsticks clinking and plates clattering were heard in the kitchen.

"So…that's why there was so many fish today," Najenda laughed out once she had gotten an idea of the situation. The rest of the group laughed along, while the three who had gone to get the fish were silent. Tatsumi was embarrassed, taking a slow bite from the fish that Naruto had probably gotten. Tatsumi himself had only captured two, while the blond had gotten twenty-seven! It seems that his lack of presence actually made the blond highly useful in this situation.

"Haha. But Tatsumi, weren't you saying "Bring it on" as you undressed?" she asked. When Tatsumi's expression dropped even further, she slammed the table repeatedly in amusement and in the high of her happiness.

"Stop making me feel bad," the boy moaned out, only for his request to be ignored.

"And Naruto got _twenty-seven _of them! Seriously, you still haven't told us how you did it!" Leone said, turning her attention from the depressed boy to the neutral one who was eating his fish quietly.

"I did nothing," Naruto replied once he had finished chewing the fish in his mouth. Literally, he had done nothing other than drift along the surface of the clear waters and occasionally take a stroke with this right arm to move somewhat faster. Somehow, all of the flying fish had just ended up in his basket. In the end, he had even beat Akame in how much fish one could gather. Then again, that meant it was more difficult for him to carry his basket down the mountain.

'_I'm still too weak! Even Naruto beat me!' _Tatsumi thought to himself as he stared at Akame and then at Naruto, both of who were looking at their respective fishes with an inquisitive and composed stare.

"Well, that's enough of that. Leone, tell Tatsumi about the mission." Said boy perked up at the word 'mission'. Naruto, who was not called out, did not seem at all perturbed by the fact he would not be participating in the mission. He already had a feeling he knew what he would be doing for the night and maybe the next few weeks or months, even.

Leone ceased laughing immediately and donned a serious expression, listening to her leader's orders without a question.

"Right. We've received a request from a woman whose fiancé was murdered for something that he was blameless for. And if we accept it, she gave us this," she said, dropping a bag of hefty, precious metals that clinked and jingled with an attention grabbing sound. Every eye went to the bag, and then back to Leone.

"She sold her body," she explained when no one asked the question on everyone's faces. "And she caught a disease." Talk about depressing.

"Did you check her back-story?" Najenda asked, leaning back against the couch as she took a breath from her smoke. The blonde nodded.

"Yeah. It's all true; I made sure to spy for a few minutes," she explained.

'_And a few minutes was all I needed to be certain.' _Najenda exhaled.

"Alright, Night Raid accepts the request! We'll destroy those heinous monsters. But, the issue will be Ogre. He's quite powerful, and the only way to get at him is on his day off. And Akame would be too dangerous to send out, since she's a highly-wanted criminal." A hand slammed down on the table, and everyone turned to the sound. Tatsumi was standing, his right palm flush against the surface of the table.

"Then let me do it! I can handle it!" He exclaimed with determination. The boss and Leone looked at him with smug smirks on their faces.

"Oh? Are you saying you can kill Ogre yourself?" He widened his eyes.

"Not that I can't handle it, but it almost sounds like you want to handle him yourself," Leone stated after Najenda, her smirk rising.

"The way you are right now, you would die." Akame finished it off for the girls. That got Tatsumi ticked; he wanted the girl to acknowledge him as strong.

"I can't let this kind of thing continue. While we are sitting here, there may be other people getting framed. Losing a loved one…no one should have to go through that."

"Alright, you go kill the demon. The mission begins at the break of dawn." Najenda said, ending the talk on the mission. Tatsumi looked over to Akame and smirked.

"You hear that? I'm going to take on Ogre myself!" The red-eyed girl just swiftly turned her head away.

"I don't know where you get this confidence; you're going to die if you remain that way."

"Alright. Tatsumi, Akame, and Leone, you three should go to sleep. You've got the mission tomorrow." The three nodded and went out of the room. Naruto silently watched them go, his eyes trailing them until they went out of the room and out of sight. Once they were out, he refocused his gaze to the remaining members in front of him.

"Let me guess. Training, right?" he asked, one of his eyes raised curiously. Najenda nodded.

"That's right. According to Akame, you're stronger than you look and let off. I heard that you fought against three of the infiltrators and was able to kill one. Not a very impressive report, but Akame said that there was a moment where you moved much faster than a normal human." Naruto inwardly cursed.

'_She was not supposed to se that. Well, all they saw was __**Chi**__, so not like it's anything bad. It just tires me out a ot faster.'_

"And?" Najenda smiled, and then smirked, and then began to chuckle darkly.

"You said you wanted to live, right?" Naruto slowly raised both eyebrows in consternation, not seeing where this was going.

"Yeah/ More than death, of course I want to live." Najenda's chuckle darkened as her dark visage became black with her intention.

"You three, do what you have to do." Sheele, Bulat, and Mine all nodded their heads as one.

"Acknowledged," the three responded. Suddenly, Bulat was in front of Naruto with his **Teigu **activated. The blond dropped to the ground, now on all fours as the man's spear went directly where his head was a moment before.

"What the hell?!" he screamed. "Are you trying to kill me?" he yelled at Najenda, his eyes wide with surprise. There was no laziness or neutral look on him now as he stared up at Najenda. Bulat was looking down at the blond, the eyes hidden behind the metallic mask. Mine seemed to smile as she pulled out **Pumpkin**, and Sheele quietly took out her scissors.

"You said you wanted to live, right? Then live. After all, if you die, then you were never qualified for the assassin life." Naruto didn't have time to respond; he shot up off the ground horizontally and flew high into the air; Sheele's scissors went right underneath his stomach and face as he flipped backwards. "And if you survive this for an hour, we have spars and a dodging routine waiting for you afterwards!"

Naruto began to cry. He wouldn't get sleep that night.

That night, the forest was filled with screams of terror and trees falling from explosions and powerful impacts or cuts. Najenda watched with an attentive eye, and it narrowed when she saw Naruto dodge a bullet that was coming at his blind spot; he had absolutely no vision of the bullet, and the sound shouldn't have reached him in time.

It was simple intuition.

And her speculative eye narrowed once more when the blond seemed to, for a moment, go at an inhuman speed and blur from vision for a half-a-second, only to reappear nearly ten feet away from where he had disappeared from.

Najenda took a puff, clearly intrigued, but confused as well because she couldn't come up with any explanations from her observations.

"Akame was right, huh? But that brings up the question: what the hell was he doing against the three infiltrators, then?" Mine fired another bullet, holding her stance for a few seconds before removing her eye from the scope.

"Who knows? But why can't I hit him?!" she shouted, getting angrier and angrier every time she missed him by a centimeter. "I'm supposed to be able to easily snipe him!"

"It's alright, Mine. We actually want him alive. Besides, if you want to see him hurt, I'm just letting you know right now that I'm sparring with him if he survives for the next forty-five minutes." Najenda and Mine both grinned for different reasons; Najenda would get to beat up the blond, and Mine would get to see Naruto get shit on.

For some reason, Naruto felt a chill run down his spine as he ducked under Bulat's punch, which tore straight through the trunk of a large tree.

"This is going to be a long night," he muttered as he began to run again.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Dawn)**

"For Kami's sake, let me sleep!" Naruto groaned out, his eyes drooping and closing at random times as he forced himself to stay standing and in a fighting position. He had survived the night, and morning had come. The sun would come up anytime now, but the members of Night Raid didn't seem like they were going to let him go anytime soon. Well, if that was the case, he would collapse soon anyway. Standing was a battle for him at the moment; the weights on his body were not making things any easier. Neither were the visible bruises all over his beat-up body.

"You're not going to sleep until you match our requirements. If you even think of collapsing on us again, Mine will riddle you with bullets," Najenda stated, taking a puff from her smoke before she bent into her stance. Naruto slowly slid into his, dragging his boots against the dirt ground.

"And I'll enjoy it immensely," Mine commented from the side. Naruto just grunted in response; he was way too damn tired to make a quip or retort. She had already taken a few shots at him every time he had made a quip on how he wanted to be lazy or go to sleep.

"You really expect me to last a minute against you? I was barely lasting a second when we first started!" Naruto exclaimed, his dull blue eyes boring into the experienced woman in front of him. "And you want me to do it with weights?" He continued in a disbelieving and extremely lethargic tone.

"For the eighty-seventh time, yes. Yes, I expect you to be able to do it!" she shouted back, suddenly darting in towards him. Naruto sleepily ducked under a punch and spun on his feet, quickly and suddenly retaliating with a spinning kick with a burst of energy. Najenda bent backwards so that the kick would go right past her face, but she didn't expect for the kick to suddenly stop and return towards her.

"Oh?" she let out a surprised expression. "You're learning quickly." Naruto lifted both legs and was now on his hands, spinning his body. Najenda had no problem dodging and weaving her way through the randomly angled kicks, but she was impressed, as were the other members. To think that the blond was coming up with all of these moves on the spot was highly admirable; at night, when they had first began sparring, Naruto was constantly on the defensive and was down in just a few seconds. Now, he was able to retaliate somewhat, and this was only after a few hours. Then again, Najenda was going easy on the blond.

"Do you think he'll last a minute this time?" Bulat asked from the sidelines, sitting on a rock beside Sheele. She was reading another book, How to not be an Airhead Ver. 2.

"I doubt it. Last time, he lasted only thirteen seconds. It would probably take him another four days to end up at a minute, and considering his condition, he will collapse before that time is reached," she replied analytically, more interested in the piece of literature in her hands. The spear-wielder sighed; the longer Naruto took, the longer everyone would have to stay awake. Only Mine was actually wide awake; the girl was waiting for her chance to just shoot the blond to tomorrow.

Naruto panted, his tired arms barely rising in time to block a heavy cross from Najenda. He winced from the crushing impact, but the weights were actually helpful in this case; he would use the metal weights to protect himself against bone-breaking attacks. The blond bent his back to dodge a high roundhouse kick. Najenda's dangerous foot whiffed right over the blond's nose. The blond began to move up from his position, but the leg was moving backwards, a move that was copied just moments before.

'_Shit!' _the blond thought. There would be no escape at this moment. The blond closed his eyes in anticipation of the impact…but it never came. He slowly opened his eyes tiredly and squinted his eyes at the woman in front of him, who had her arms crossed.

"I've been waiting for you to start going at this seriously for an hour, but I'm losing patience." Naruto didn't even raise his eyebrows; that would take too much effort at the moment.

"What…are you talking about?" he slowly breathed out, taking his time to catch his breath and let his muscles to relax. Najenda narrowed her eyes seriously.

"You thought I wouldn't see it? Well, sorry to disappoint, but we _all _saw it." The blond didn't change his facial expression and continued to inhale and exhale slowly. "There were moments when you moved faster than the normal human, or more properly, faster than a normal human should be able to move."

"Adrenaline," the blond tried to reason.

"No, that was _not _adrenaline. Adrenaline wouldn't make a person be able to move over ten feet in a random direction in a half second, would it?" she asked rhetorically.

"It's possible," he tried to argue. The longer he kept the conversation going, the longer he would get a rest. Najenda, however, seemed tired to the blond's attitude.

"Enough. Either you get serious now, or I'll have you continue this until you can last a minute against any of the members." The blond seemed to stop breathing from that. "And each member will have a specific time placed on them, and every one of them will be longer than a minute." Now Naruto just seemed to be crying.

"Damn, that's just unfair. With these weights, it's impossible to move around! What is this? Eighty kilograms altogether?" he asked, lifting his right hand and pointing at his body to emphasis the metal bands clamped on his body.

"Only twenty kilograms. You're just getting tired," she quickly replied. Naruto grumbled.

"Then what about them? Did every one of them last over a minute?" the blond asked, pointing specifically at Mine. The girl took offense, but she remained silent when Najenda raised her hand.

"Yes. Every one of them."

"What about Tatsumi?"

"He's different. He's had training and has fought before. You have no training at all." Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"I have no training? I guess that's true." He had run away from his clan at a young age, preventing him from getting any training. Why? He couldn't quite remember, but he felt that it was for an important reason. Strange…something always barred his thoughts from remembering why he ran from his clan.

"Yes. You have no training whatsoever. So-"

"So, isn't what you're asking from me too much? I mean, I have no training, so how am I supposed to last a minute against you, the strongest of **Night Raid**?" Naruto asked, his eyes narrowing even further. Najenda frowned.

"I never said I was the strongest."

"You did. You said that I would have to last longer than a minute against the rest of the **Night Raid**, but only a minute against you. Don't you think you're saying you're saying that the rest of the members?" The woman remained silent, and Naruto waited quietly for his answer. However, instead of receiving a verbal response, the woman suddenly dashed towards him. The blond jumped to the side and rolled, only turning back once he was certain he was safe.

"Break's over," the woman stated simply before charging again.

"And he's screwed," Bulat commented, placing a palm on his forehead when he saw the blond fall to Najenda once again. Seriously, the amount of mistakes the blond was making was ridiculous. It made the wanted criminal cringe from the extremely basic mistakes Naruto was making. Well, at least Mine seemed to be enjoying the show.

Naruto was on the floor, panting from exhaustion and sweating profusely.

"That wasn't even six seconds that time. Get up," the leader ordered. The blond didn't respond. His muscles were aching and his body was at its limit. He had never, ever been pushed so hard in his life.

"I'd really prefer not to," the blond replied, still on the floor. That's what he said, but he was struggling to get up, straining his muscles from exertion. He knew that if he didn't get up soon, Mine would get her turn at shooting at him, and a few bullets in his body was something he could live without, thank you very much.

"Oh, what's going on here?" Leone asked, breaking the silence as she entered the training grounds. She quickly eyed the situation and smirked. "Ah, giving the newbie a bit of a rundown of what it's like, huh? Well, good for you, Naruto. How does it feel getting the laziness getting kicked out of you?" she goaded, a sarcastic smile widening quickly. She was flipped the bird. Leone placed her hands over her chest and pretended to be devastated. "Oh, that's not nice. I feel my heart crumbling to pieces."

"Just…shut…hah…up. You're voice…is so damn loud."

"Not a chance, buddy. I'm going to make fun of you until we leave." The blond remained silent for a moment, then he spoke.

"Leader, can we change the stipulation?" Najenda cocked an eyebrow; things were getting interesting.

"Depends on what the requirement is." Naruto remained on the ground, his body against the surface. He breathed in slowly and then said –

"If I can land one _clean _hit on you, I win." Silence. And then laughter from everyone else.

"You're better off trying to last a minute, blondie," Leone stated laughingly, slapping her thigh from what she thought was Naruto's humor. Oh, but the tired, lazy blond was quiet serious.

"What do you say, Leader?" And that was when all the laughter died down. They realized that the tired blond, who was still laying with his back on the ground, was serious. His expression was neutral; no one could tell what was going through his mind.

"Fine. If you can land _one clean _hit on me, you succeed." Naruto slowly got up. First, he got into a sitting position, and then placed his hands on his knees as he struggled to get on his feet and even stand up straight. By the time he was on his feet, he was breathing heavily.

"May I take off the weights?" he asked. Najenda just smirked.

"No matter what you do, you won't be able to win. Give it your worst." And this wasn't stated out of cockiness or over-confidence. It was just a truth. She was much, _much _stronger than the blond.

Naruto removed the weights, clumsily removed the straps and clamps and letting the weights drop to the floor.

'_I've been watching her fighting style for a while. First, she'll charge in_.' Not a moment after, Najenda burst forwards, suddenly much faster than before. However, the blond dodged to the left, moving at a proportionally faster speed. He turned his head over his shoulder to check on his opponent.

'_Next, she'll jump into the air or she'll charge again, but she'll definitely come in with a kick. Higher chances make me think it's either a spin kick or a front kick. Roundhouse is definitely out of the question.' _

She jumped into the air, one of her legs straight. The blond rolled out of the way, but not before leaving something on the ground where he was just kneeling. Najenda landed and stumbled slightly, losing her balance on her left foot. That was when Naruto charged in.

'_And the rest from here is simple intuition and guessing. I've never gone this far. It's all or nothing!' _The blond's legs began to burn from strain and overuse as he sped up, closing the ten foot gap in a single, powerful stride. He raised his arm and cocked his right fist back, and then let it explode forwards as he flexed. However, he was stopped with a single palm.

"That it?" Najenda asked in a bored tone as she breathed out smoke. Naruto smirked.

'_Not quite.' _He was still in the air, so he tried to kick with his right leg at her stomach, but that was stopped by her left shin quite handily. But he didn't give in, and with his remaining strength, Naruto threw his left arm forward to try and hit her head.

'_Her right, metal arm shouldn't be able to be fast enough when we're this close. I noticed that her right arm is slightly slower than her left arm is in reacting to attacks, so this should be it!' _Right when his left fist closed in on her face…she tilted her head, letting the fist fly through. Naruto widened his eyes and felt his chances drop to the ground.

'_Screw it!' _However, he wanted his damn sleep! Instinctively, he wrapped his left arm around her neck and flexed his abs as he moved his whole body forward, meeting her forehead with his forehead in a powerful headbutt.

Blood dripped on the ground, splattering on the surface of the standing ground. The rest of the members were in silent shock, watching quietly as the leader's forehead dripped her blood. The blond's forehead seemed fine, however. He slowly loosened his grip. The moment his locked fingers lost their hold, he dropped and collapsed to the ground, eyes closed and unconscious.

Everyone stared at the unconscious blond, who was now quietly breathing, completely relaxed against the ground. Najenda let her forehead continue to drip blood, the red liquid going down her forehead and cheekbones and dribbling off her chin.

"That…you were going easy on him, right?" Leone asked, chuckling without any humor as she constantly shifted her gaze from her leader and the blond on the floor. The white-haired woman nodded slowly.

"But it doesn't matter that I went easy on him. He had no training; throughout the hours, he constantly improved at an absurd rate. That headbutt was really unexpected, though. Who would've thought…well, I guess it counts." Finally, the woman began to move, walking towards the inside of the base. "One of you guys take care of him. I'm going to clean myself up."

When Najenda disappeared, Akame suddenly appeared and grabbed Naruto from the floor.

"I told you. He's dangerous."

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Next Day)**

"Oh man…why does my body ache so much?" Receiving no answer, the blond groaned when his muscles tried to make him stop rising from his futon, but that wasn't stopping him. He sat up and looked around and saw something interesting. Sheele was sleeping on his bed. Deciding that this was not her room and that she needed to wake up, he sat and tried to arouse her from her sleep by shaking her shoulder.

"Sheele," he yawned, "wake up." The girl woke up immediately, although very sleepily. She rubbed the undersides of her eyes without touching her glasses, and then she yawned as she sat up.

"Ah, I apologize for sleeping on your bed. I was waiting for you to wake up and accidently fell asleep," she apologized sincerely, her usual visage of neutrality gone and replaced with a lack of composure he had never seen in the girl.

"Um…it's okay. What time is it?" he asked. Sheele looked out the window for a moment, and then she suddenly jumped out of bed an grabbed Naruto's wrist to pull him out of the room. "Hey, what's going on?"

"We were supposed to wake up three hours ago and begin your training!"

"Huh? Training?" Naruto asked, bewildered. There would be no breaks?

'_Well, at least she gave me another three hours to sleep. I'll give her my silent thanks for that.'_

Once they were outside and at their training grounds, which was apparently a small pond with a waterfall, Sheele sat down on a rock with weights on it. She threw the metal bands at Naruto, who caught one of them and then jumped out of the way to dodge the rest.

"Put those on, and then do one set of three-hundred push-ups, two-hundred sit-ups, one-hundred tuck jumps in the water, five-hundred jumping jacks, and fifty-sprints from one end of the pond and back to here. That will be one set; you're doing ten of those today," she ordered seriously. Naruto blanched at the routine. "And you won't run," she warned, threatening and getting her point across as she pulled out her **Teigu**.

Naruto began the routine immediately. He had gotten a few cuts from that specific scissor, and it hurt! When he began his set, it was all silence at first; he was struggling with the workout, and Sheele was silently reading her choice of book today. However, she suddenly began to speak. At first, it was on random details, such as the Capital's plight or the misfortune of some families, and she would change the subject every now and then.

Naruto, who was panting with air, didn't even respond. However, he was slowly lulled by her voice and the mix of words entering his ear, and his body didn't feel as tired as before. Struggling he may have been, but the mind makes a big difference.

And that was when Naruto decided that he would train with Sheele.

And the days passed slowly, and yet quickly. Naruto found himself actually willing to talk and not be completely lazy when he was around the girl, and before he knew it, he was actually looking forward to being in company with her. She was…interesting, and he wanted to understand her completely. Opposites attract, in a way.

**(Time Skip: Two Weeks Later)**

"Akame, find him," Najenda groaned out. This was a daily routine, but it was still grating on her nerves, especially now that it was becoming extremely difficult to find the blond. Ever since the first night and day that they had begun to train him, the blond had been trying to shirk off the training by hiding. Of course, he would get found out quite quickly, and due punishment was given quite quickly, mainly by Mine. However, Leone kept giving him taunting tips whenever she found him.

Day 1: "Geez, you shouldn't hide in such an obvious spot."

Day 4: "Are you kidding? This place is one of the first places I would've checked."

Day 6: "Huh, this was kind of better. Why don't you try going to a place we would usually go into, but a certain corner that we wouldn't think about."

Day 8: "I'm surprised you actually listened to me? Wow. But then again, this time took an hour…kind of pisses me off."

Day 10: "Damn it, Naruto! You made me use my **Teigu **to smell you out!"

Day 12: "…I can't smell him."

So, Najenda stopped having Leone search for the blond and had Akame look for him. After all, if the **Lionelle **user didn't give him tips on how to hide, none of this crap called Hide-and-Seek would never have happened.

"Roger, Leader!" the red-eyed girl said before disappearing into the corridors of the base. Najenda sighed. Things have been going pretty well. Tatsumi was showing a lot of promise as he improved tremendously over the two weeks by just fighting opponents and watching his teammates fights. And he was getting stronger, both physically and mentally. He was a genius, in a way, but also extremely hard working.

And then there was Naruto, who was still trying to shirk off training and hide the whole day. But if Tatsumi was a genius, then Naruto had to be something greater. His learning curve was something she had never seen in all of her years in war or in the revolutionary army. And the blond's unpredictability was on a whole different level; he would never use the same move twice, even if he was forced into the same situation multiple times. Instead, he would analyze based on previous maneuvers which action was best to proceed with, and then act. And that was after considering how this action would affect his opponent mentally, keeping the person guessing what the blond would do next.

And this was all instinctual.

He had to have at least a few dozen thoughts running through his mind unconsciously on what would happen next in the battle every second, and his body would respond with the best option.

Najenda placed a hand on her cheek and leaned against the palm, and then sighed. If only the blond was not lazy…then he would grow to be an absolute monster. Oh, if some miracle happened and changed him. If only.

But things were looking up for **Night Raid**. Tatsumi had taken care of Ogre, and Akame paired up with Tatsumi took care of Zank the Beheader. After that, Tatsumi had gone all around the place with the members, becoming something like a regular as he consistently performed his best and survived through the missions. Even pairing up with Mine and winning against an assistant of the master of Martial Arts was an amazing feat for a greenie.

And during all of this, Naruto was either training, sleeping, or eating. Or just hiding, but he was found sleeping every time they eventually found him, so hiding was put under the category of sleeping. Speaking of hiding…Akame was back with a very discontent Naruto dragging against the floor. When she was close enough, she dropped the blond and took a step back.

"Mission accomplished. I have found the slacker." Najenda thanked her, and Akame nodded her head silently.

"Did you really have to find me so quickly? Leader, I want Leone to find me again, not Akame. I don't understand how she finds me so quickly," the blond pouted, sad that he didn't get as much sleep and that he would actually have to train.

"Now I can't tell you that. Only she knows, and either way, it's a secret." Naruto crossed his arms as he sat crossed-legged on the carpet beneath him.

"Fine. But Sheele is training me again today." Najenda accepted this; for some reason, the blond seemed the most willing to work and train under the "airhead". And also, for some strange reason, Naruto found Sheele the most relatable and became the closest to that girl specifically.

"Fine. Go today. At the end, we're having the normal routine." Naruto just grunted before walking away. The 'normal routine' was another spar, and the opponent was chosen at random. So far, he had fought against every member…and had gotten his assed handed to him very properly. On a nice, shining, silver plate with a nice, sizzling burn.

"Leader. Are you still bothered by his attitude?" Akame asked when she saw Najenda drop her shoulders a nuance the moment the blond disappeared from sight.

"Well…" she began, leaning back against her chair and crossing her right leg over the other leg. "he's not _as _lazy, but he's still remarkably unwilling to even train."

"What do you think it will take to actually make him train? I have already used the ramen trick three times. What next?" Najenda sighed.

"I really don't know."

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Riverside)**

"Oh, is that Naruto and Sheele coming over here?" Bulat said, peering and refocusing his eyes under his cupped han shading his eyes. Tatsumi looked over, shirtless and already sweating in the morning.

"Looks like them. Wonder what they're up to," he said ponderingly, restarting his workout. Bulat laughed loudly, his hands on his hips. This warranted some attention from Tatsumi, bu the boy didn't stop his push-ups.

"It's strange, really. Naruto really dislikes training, and these past two weeks, he's been doing everything he could to get out of it, but he'll somewhat willingly do it if Sheele is his instructor." Tatsumi raised an eyebrow.

"Why? I thought her workouts were just as hard as yours and everyone else's." Bulat nodded his head on that assessment and inquiry.

"They are. But you know, the instructor makes a big difference. You and I have a pretty good relationship, so you don't mind working with me. Naruto has the best relationship with Sheele, so he doesn't mind working as much with her as he would with – let's say, Najenda." Tatsumi stopped his exercises and sat on the ground, now looking at his brother figure, who was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest, with a curious expression.

"That doesn't sound like Naruto. I thought he would be too lazy to even want to train. Why does he even like Sheele in the first place?" Bulat looked over that the two figures; they were now crossing over the river.

"I'm not sure, really. However, I have a feeling it's because they are similar…or Sheele is just someone Naruto instinctively came to like. It's really hard to dislike her, even after meeting her and understanding she's an airhead. That may be another reason, too. The fact she's an airhead at times and the fact Naruto is lazy may just make them compatible!" Bulat said, as if he had a sudden epiphany. Tatsumi just stared…and then shook his head in denial.

'_I think he should just stick with spears. I don't see how laziness and lack of common sense go hand in hand. Although, I did enjoy training under her for a while.' _

"Naruto," Sheele spoke from the other side of the two boys. "I'm not sure if you noticed, but the more you have trained, the more you have been slowly falling into a style of fighting. There's no real pattern from what I can tell, but you seem to respond in certain ways that can deem it a style." The blond looked over at Sheele.

"No, I didn't notice. I was just trying to survive." The girl nodded neutrally, expecting that kind of answer.

"Well, we'll see what happens when you continue to train." They stayed silent for a time. Only the sounds of the forest and their boots crackling against the chilly earth were heard.

"Hey, I'm just wondering. Why do you deal with Mine? She just seems…" Sheele raised her eyebrows.

"Rude? Mean? A bitch?" Naruto sunk his head into the collar of his jacket. He wasn't going to say 'bitch', but he was thinking it. "Well…it's because she's very different when you actually know her. Naruto, you know me, right?" That received an affirmation. "You know I may make blunders some – all the time, but you like me despite that. Mine is the same, except she makes blunders in social life."

"But my question is why do you always partner up with her whenever there's a mission?" he asked. Because of Sheele partnering with Mine every mission – from what he could tell from his few weeks of stay – he would be forced to go with Mine if he was allowed to tag along. And so far, he didn't like the pink-haired girl. Gave him a weird vibe…maybe some ancestor or in a parallel universe, another Naruto was getting mistreated by a girl with pink hair.

"Because I feel like I need to protect her?" That threw Naruto into a loop.

"You're an assassin," he said.

"I am. But you see, at any time, we assassins can die, and we'll disappear, never to be remembered. And we die early; only few assassins actually live to the end of their days. I want to help protect each of the members to become that small percentage, and I feel that Mine needs the most backup, so I partner up with her." The blond was still confused.

"You do it…to protect her? What if you die protecting her?" he asked, bringing in a hypothetical situation.

"Naruto, I fought to protect my friend and was shunned because of it, but fighting is all I can do properly. If I can fight to protect, and be loved for it, I would willingly give my life. Protecting, Naruto, makes someone very strong, and at times, desperate. And desperation can make someone powerful as well," she finished right when they reached their training location for the day: another pond with a waterfall.

"The usual?" Naruto asked, breaking from the previous conversation and into the training. However, her words were still in his head. He couldn't really fathom why she would willingly give her life. Her ideals and his ideals were just so contradictory that it just didn't make sense to Naruto, although Sheele was willing to try and understand his.

"Yes. Don't forget to put on the weights," she reminded him, throwing five circular weights on the floor. The blond made a low, guttural sound in irritation at the heavy weights, but he didn't make any other complaint as he placed them on his arms, legs, and chest. "But don't go too hard. We have a mission tonight." Naruto perked up at that, but he didn't look up or stop placing the weights on specific parts of his body.

"What are the details?" he asked in a business-like tone. At least this would mean he wouldn't have to do the spar for tonight.

"There's a man named Chibul…"

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Night time)**

"This has to be the best job ever for an assassin. Just sitting on a tree and keeping watch. Only thing I have to do is make sure I don't fall asleep," Naruto said to himself as he lazily turned his head to scout his surroundings once every half minute. Convincing himself that nothing was out of order, he went back to staring at the building that Mine and Sheele were performing their assassination mission.

Sheele. She was interesting…and for some reason, he genuinely liked her as a person. Not like he didn't like the members of **Night Raid**, the group of misfits that they were, but he found Sheele the most comfortable person to be with. Leone was friendly, but she was too talkative and personal. Akame was too…out of character for him, for lack of a better way to describe her. And Mine…he'd rather not even start on her. And let's not forget that Bulat is gay and that Najenda kicked his ass multiple times on the training grounds.

So maybe his feelings on Sheele were natural, since she was the only one that didn't completely kick his ass when they sparred. Oh, she destroyed him easily, but she didn't rub it in nor did she remain completely stoic or force him to stand up again. She would wait, and sometimes even help him up and patch his bruises until he was ready to spar. One time, she even let him stop sparring and made him train his body instead, which was much better in his opinion. Tried and bruised or just simply tired. Quite the easy option if you asked Naruto…actually, being tired in generally was something that he would say 'Kami forbid', but presented with those two options, his choice was quick.

But Sheele was someone he definitely liked as a person. She was kind, constantly willing to reply and respond in like, and was always there for him when he needed her for the past two weeks. And two weeks was enough for him to get his first impression on her, and that impression was enough to say that he wanted to become friends with her. Maybe he should ask her if she wanted ramen; he hadn't shared with anyone other than Akame personally, but that was because girl kept waking up whenever he cooked his favorite meal at nighttime.

Suddenly, two figures stealthily ran out of the building, running along the shadows until they were safe in the forest.

"The night is dark," he called out to the two figures.

"But darkness is our protector," one of the two figures responded, which he figured was Sheele. He smiled. Looks like it was another mission accomplished with no casualties. Seriously, were assassins like them just invincible? He didn't see any of them dying any time soon.

The three began to make a quick pace out of the foreign area, running along the dim light of the autumn moon. They were safe and out of the radius of any followers.

"So, how was it?" Naruto asked, showing interest in the report they would give later to Najenda.

"There were a lot of defenses and protective guards around the area, but it wasn't too much of a challenge overall," Mine replied haughtily. Naruto just droned her out and waited for Sheele, but she just responded, agreeing with the other girl's assessment of the mission.

"That's it?" he asked. Before he got a response, the two girls seemed to suddenly flinch. As one, the three jumped away; the two girls heard someone jump off a tree towards them, and Naruto jumped away on pure instinct. A moment later, cascades of earth crashed upwards from the ground, showing inhuman strength in whatever hit the ground. Plumes of smoke and debris rose into the field of vision, preventing the three from seeing what caused the crater in the earth. As the night wind cleared out the particles in the air, what was exposed was a girl in imperial guard protocol armor. She had two long pig-tails, was of decent height, and actually quite pretty.

"So…it was the right decision to wait out the night and see if you were coming…Night Raiders." All three of their eyes narrowed at that statement. The girl seemed to reek of unnatural bloodlust, if feeling in the air gave them a clue. "Sheele…and two other Night Raiders that I don't know about…what a catch I've found today!" she screamed, laughing maniacally. "Justice will be served today against you evil-doers!"

"Who said we would die? It's three on one." Mine pointed out. The girl seemed to smirk at that.

"Oh, don't worry about numbers. With God smiling down on me, he'll lead me to victory!" she retorted. An unspoken message went through those words.

'_I'll kill you all…here and now!' _Mine took that message and decided to refute it by quickly lifting her gun and shooting it. However, her bullets seemed to be stopped by a large…what the hell was that thing? A biological **Teigu**? While the three were staring at the girl, she suddenly brought out two guns in a flash and began shooting relentlessly and unsparingly with her bullets.

"Out of the way!" Sheele ordered, and the other two complied, jumping in opposite directions.

"Koro. Prey!" the biological **Teigu **responded, suddenly becoming like a predator as it charged forwards at Sheele. The girl stared at it as if it were just some other insignificant. She took a moment to look behind her and give the blond a message.

"Stay back, Naruto. This is a battle between **Teigu**. One of us will definitely die today." She then turned around, but not before catching Naruto's completely shocked expression. Someone would die again…he grimaced. He would make damn sure it wasn't Sheele. But something about this situation felt déjà vu to him.

"_Stay back, Naruto. Your mother and father will take care of this." _Flashes and images of two people he didn't recognize appeared in his mind. Pain sensors on his brain began to pulse and explode, sending transmissions and receptors throughout his mind one message: brutal pain. He fell to the ground on his knees, gripping his hair in locks.

'_What's…happening?' _More images flashed into his mind, but he didn't remember any of these events. They were memories that his brain had locked away, hopefully never to be remembered again. However, this situation was so similar to something in his forgotten past that he just _felt _it was the same.

Naruto shot one eye open barely, only to see Sheele cut down the airborne **Teigu**. Koro fell to the ground…but it wasn't dead.

"Sheele! It's still moving!" he yelled out through grit teeth, barely even able to get that out as he jumped away from Koro, who slammed its fist onto the ground where he was just kneeling a tenth of a second before. However, the power from the slam made an air wave, and Naruto flew backwards, losing his balance in the air, crashing against a tree.

"Naruto!" Sheele shouted, worry showing on her face. She turned her attention from the downed blond to the monster that had forced him against a tree. "Right, you regenerate." Before she could slash it, it was blown away by Mine's **Pumpkin**.

"Sheele, we have to target its core, although we don't know where it is." Mine told her partner, giving a quick glance to the blond behind her. He was down, but he wasn't unconscious. He seemed to be in pain, but not from slamming against a tree…something in his head was bothering him. Both of the girls grit their teeth; fighting while protecting Naruto would be hard as hell.

"We could also target the wielder," Sheele pointed out. However, it seemed like she wouldn't get a chance to go in on that plan, because Koro, at that moment, charged in with another change to its physical appearance.

"Koro: Arms!" Its arms were much larger and its physical stature spoke of much more physical prowess. Sheele moved forwards and blocked the heavy rain of blows, although the strikes were heavy and were taxing on her arms immensely. A few seconds passed, and a shrill whistle pierced the area. Mine smirked.

"Forced under attack and in danger of getting caught by back-up…this is a pinch!" Mine jumped into the air and shot at the large Biological **Teigu**. Naruto, who opened his eyes for a moment, screamed internally, since his mouth didn't seem to be working. Chills ran down his spine. He called for his legs to move so that he could stand up, but they wouldn't respond. He wanted to scream, but his vocal chords wouldn't shake. What the hell was going on?

'_You should've shot at the girl, you dumbass!' _Naruto wanted to scream, but the words just wouldn't come out. Painful. He grimaced as more memories began to unchain itself from its lock. Was that what was preventing him from using any bodily functions? He wasn't sure, but his eyes closed again in a grimace, and he let himself fall into the lost memories and pain.

**XShuyaX**

**(Memories)**

"_Naruto, time to get up!" Said boy groaned as he blinked his eyes blearily; the sun was sun a bother every morning. Why did it always have to flash into his eyes when he awoke._

"_Breakfast is ready!" Another voice called out; that was feminine. He looked around, and then slowly got up, a large smile on his face._

"_Coming, Kaa-san, Tou-san!"_

"_Today, I'm going to teach you how to fight!" the blond's father said. A somewhat older, but still very young Naruto grinned and yelled in triumph, jumping into the air in joy. _

"_Yes! I'm totally going to kick ass! I'm going to beat everyone in this clan, yeah!" Minato grinned at his son…but both of their smiles disappeared when Kushina suddenly walked out of their family hut, a knife in her hand._

"_Naruto, where did you learn to curse?" Both blonds began to back away from the red-haired beauty._

"_Ah…Tou-san, what should I do?" The child gave the father a glance from the corner of his eyes as he nervously chuckled, not exactly what to say to his mother, who was drawing closer and closer._

"_I think running would be a good idea at the moment. What do you think, Naruto?" _

"_I think that sounds great." The two blitzed away…except the five-year old Naruto was caught quite easily._

"_Hey, why do we always get the worst of the loot and the food?" Naruto asked when the said items were distributed amongst the clansmen. Kushina bent down and gave Naruto a hug and lifted the boy so that the child was staring straight into her eyes._

"_Well, it's because we're on the bottom of the clan, Naruto." This confused the child greatly. The small boy raised his eyebrows...or at least he tried to. All he managed to do was widen his eyes. Oh, her son was just too cute!_

"_But, I thought you two are really strong." _

"_Strength doesn't mean everything, my little one." Kushina explained cryptically with a smile, giving the cute blond a poke on the nose. Minato smiled; they may have been in the bottom of the clan, but they were the happiest of the bunch._

"_Naruto, run!" The frightened boy stood still, terrified at the sight before him. His whole clan was dead, and his father was out there fighting. "Stay back!" The whole complex of huts were aflame, and men were shouting and some women were screaming in pain._

"_Mom, no!" he shouted, not wanting to run. Suddenly, his father appeared next to the two. Naruto gave his father a hopeful grin, but Minato was all business. Kushina gave him just one look, and the underlying message was sent. They wouldn't survive…so they would do their absolute best to at least let their child survive through this day._

"_Naruto," Minato began, bending on his knees. He pulled out a beautiful, blue crystal that was tied to a chord. He placed it on his son's neck, and tears slowly began to grow on the edges of his eyes. "Naruto, my child. I hope you become someone great, and I want you to be a man strong enough so that he can protect his people. Someone stronger than us two, do you understand me?"_

_Naruto didn't understand why his father was speaking in such a way, as if he would die; at least they could all run away together and be a family. So he just smiled and gave a nod. _

"_Of course! I'll become the strongest!" When he said that, he felt something…ignite in his body. What was that feeling? His smile faltered for a second, but it was back in a flash. _

"_Sochi-kun. My little one…Naruto, I want you to eat healthy, and not ramen all the time. Find a good woman and-"_

"_Kushina-chan, he's five years old." _

"_-and make sure to have lots of kids. Okay? And never fall into revenge, okay?" The young boy nodded and grinned even wider._

"_Of course! I'll do it, kaa-san!" Both of his parents thanked him and patted one of his shoulders before they both stood up and turned around. Before they were out of hearing range, Naruto heard the last words he would ever hear from his parents._

"_The leader…he's dead, isn't he?" Kushina asked, despite knowing the answer. Minato stayed silent a moment, and then replied slowly._

"_I had no compatibility with it, so I can only hope our son can use it to its maximum potential. But that's only if he survives this day and they miss him."_

_And the two disappeared, and the last thing he saw of his parents were their large backs...that is, alive._

"_Tou-san…Kaa-san…why are you two sleeping with red liquid on your body?" The small boy took his short steps to his fallen parents, whose eyes were both closed._

"_Hey, wake up. It's not sani…sanitary to sleep on the dirt and you'll catch a cold if you stay in the snow." The boy coughed; the ashes and smoke were messing with his respiratory system. "See, I'm already getting sick. Wake up." He shook both of his parents on the shoulder, his small hands grasping desperately onto their shoulders as he shook them, a hopeful smile on his face. He found his parents, and they could be a family now. "Wake up." His smile slowly dropped as he continued to shake them, and tears welled up in his eyes._

"_Wake up. Wake up. Please, WAKE UP!" He screamed at them in a broken, high-pitched voice, cracking from the tears and emotions building up from his very core. He looked around for help; everyone around him was on the floor, with red liquid pouring out of their bodies. And Naruto realized…they weren't sleeping. They were gone. Forever, and never to return to the land of the living._

_Dead._

_So Naruto cried on his knees, wailing from the loss of the two bright lights of his lives. His greatest and only friends, his teachers, and most importantly, his parents. He would never see them again. _

"_Oh look, one's alive!" a voice said. Naruto quickly turned to find the source of the sound. Maybe the person could help his parents! There was a man with a large…axe? And blood was dripping on the very edges. Naruto gave the man a hopeful look as he slowly stood up._

"_Can..." he tried to sniff in his tears and compose himself, "…can you help my parents?" He was a child, and he was under the naïve idea that big people could do everything. The man stopped, and then laughed._

"_Oh sure, kid. I can help them have their child wherever they are, and you'll all be a family together again…in the next life." Naruto's hopeful expression dropped. That wasn't what he was expecting._

"_What do you mean…the next life?" _

"_Aldrec, stop playing with the boy and kill him. We must go on to the next camp; and besides, where is that damn __**Teigu**__. There were rumors that this clan had it!" Naruto turned his head, but the face was…faceless. Were his memories playing with him again, blocking it out. Long hair that ran below the person's…a woman's waist, and a skirt. _

"_Of course, general." The man with the axe bowed and lumbered forwards. Naruto took a step back._

"_Wait…oh, is he the son of those two over there? My, they were actually quite strong…they could've been at least __**Captain Class**__, and maybe __**Generals **__if they joined me, but they were so desperate to save someone. I see, so it was their child. Maybe I should take him."_

_Naruto heard one thing from the faceless woman in his memories…she's the one that killed his parents. She's the one that made them lie on the snow, dead and bleeding. And she's the one that killed the clan. He would've been happy, even staying in the bottom rung of the clan if he had his parents! He wanted them back! HE WANTED THEM!_

"-never fall into revenge, okay?" _Naruto wished he had never made that promise to his mother as his fists clenched. _

"Oh well, they were at least some fun." _Those words hit Naruto like a ton of bricks, and the boy suddenly lost all control of himself. Fun? FUN?! It was fun to kill?! _

Analyzing life force…extremely high.

Analyzing strength…moderate.

Analyzing speed…extraordinary for a child of five.

Analyzing will…wants revenge. Has nothing to protect.

Analyzing compatibility…twenty percent. First stage is possible. Engage?

_Naruto didn't wait a moment when his body began to change and charge with something overloading him…power. And rage took over._

_And everything went black._

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Clearing)**

Naruto quickly shot open his eyes. The memories had finally stopped, but the fight was still going on. However, the moment he opened his eyes, another gruesome sight was exposed to his mind.

Sheele's top portion of her body was separated from her lower, and her blood splattered everywhere on the grass, marring the green earth. Naruto cried out and dashed forwards, but it was too late.

"Ha! Caught you, you bitch! Say your last words! Justice can at least allow that much!" Seryuu screamed triumphantly. Naruto slowly turned his head to the person that had caused his whole mess in the first place. She was laughing, a demented grin that was so twisted and malevolent it would give almost anyone a chill. But Naruto's eyes were dull.

"Naruto, don't." Sheele said, knowing what the blond was thinking.

"_Never fall into revenge, okay?" _

"We both know that I'm going to die, so there's no point trying to save me either. Mine, Naruto, I want you to run. Okay?"

"No! No! I won't do it!" the other girl yelled back, tears starting to stream down her face. The blond just stared at the severed girl. The girl gave a pleading look to Naruto.

"Naruto, you want to live, right? There are reinforcements coming, and you two won't survive if you stay. Please, run." Silence…and then…

"I won't run." The blond surprised himself with his own words. What the hell was he saying?! But something was strange. Here Sheele was…dying, and for what? To protect him and Mine. For what? To save the capital. For WHAT? So that **Night Raid **would survive another day, and she willingly gave her life for that. Why the hell was she smiling? WHY?

Everything he thought was in his ideals was challenged at this very moment. To live? No, Sheele chose to die protecting her comrades. Run? No, she stayed. And she told him to never fight for revenge, but to protect. The smile on her face was enough to tell him that she was calm and willing to leave the earth, and not cry about her death and wish the death of her killer.

Sheele continued to smile as she raised her hand stroked the blond's cheek; her blood was going down his face. That simple motion should have been painful. Hell, she should be in absolute agony.

"Now isn't the time to play hero, Naruto. I know you. When I'm gone, you'll train by yourself, right? You'll become friends with everyone else, right? Especially Akame, if you'll listen to me. She needs a friend that can understand her." Naruto felt something warm run down his face. Were those…no, they weren't tears. Those were just drops of salt water. They weren't tears. "Don't take revenge, Naruto. Live to protect. Please, promise me."

_Analyzing life force…extraordinarily high._

Mine just remained silent, solemnly staring as the words continued to flow out of the girl's mouth. Koro seemed to be growing impatient, so the pink-haired girl raised her gun and pointed at it.

"Don't you fucking dare! If you touch her one more time, I'll…no, I'm going to obliterate you anyway. As soon as Sheele…goes to sleep, I'll make sure to destroy you," Mine roared. To prove her threat wasn't empty, her gun began to light up, the purple energy building up to a much higher level than when she was normally in a pinch.

"Remember what I said about justice?" Naruto shakily nodded his head.

_Analyzing strength…high._

"That…there are people who have their own…sense of justice." Every pause he took, he was holding back hiccups and a breakdown. "And…that they may have a less…than admirable sense of what is right. But they may…think we are strange…with our sense." Sheele closed her eyes peacefully.

"That's right. Don't ever forget, and always try to understand. Hatred comes from not knowing and it breeds only further hatred."

_Analyzing speed…very high._

"But…"

"Naruto, I don't have much time. Promise me you'll run and survive to another day. Don't try to take revenge today." Naruto frowned.

"I can't do that." Sheele just opened her eyes and stared at him.

_Analyzing will…will to save, protect, and to have revenge._

"Naruto." The teen began to genuinely cry. Mine knew what the words implied. She would stay and use the last of her ability to let them escape.

"I…can't…"

"Naruto."

_Analyzing compatibility…fifty-seven percent. Second stage is possible. Engage?_

"Fine, I promise! I promise! Just…stop!" he begged, now holding the girl protectively in his arms. What had she done to him, making him actually cry? He had only known her for a few weeks, so why was he crying over her.

_Engagement denied._

Sheele just smiled, her head resting against his shoulder. She gave Mine a pained smile, and then closed her eyes.

"Mine, be there for Naruto, please? Now…go." The blond slowly released her and placed her on the floor. The imperial guards were coming into the clearing; a few were already charging after the assassins. Sheele frowned.

"Now, I can't have that. **Ecstasy**." A bright light filled the clearing, blinding everyone but Mine and Naruto. As soon as the light enveloped the vicinity, the blond turned and ran, grabbing Mine on the way, who was screaming at him to let go. Right before the two disappeared, they both turned to look at her, both with grief shown on their faces.

Sheele let herself fall slack and let herself be content with her last thoughts as darkness consumed her being, just as the light disappeared from her **Teigu. **At least…in the end, she had been useful, right?

A few hundred meters away, the two members were running as fast as they could.

"Naruto, let me go! I can run by myself!" the blond finally complied. The two were out of the area for certain, so no one should be able to track them. Naruto turned around and looked at Mine, unsurprised to find her gun pointed at him.

"…"

"…DAMN IT!" She fired a bullet, taking out a strand of hair on the blond. She couldn't shoot him. Not when the last thing Sheele asked for was to watch over the blond.

"…" Mine kicked a tree, only to curse from the pain Any more shots would indicate their location to the enemy, and they didn't want that. "Let's go back…we have to report the mission as a failure."

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Midnight)**

"So…this is all you get, huh? A stone that has your name on it, a few flowers, and that's it for your funeral." Naruto stared down at the stone quietly. He was in all black clothes with two patches on his face, one on each cheek. He had received two punches, both from Mine. The girl had cursed at him and when he had followed her to her room silently, wanting to apologize personally, without anyone around. The door was slammed in his face.

"I'm sorry, Sheele. I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to save you, but I promise that I'll do my best to become stronger and protect everyone. I swear it…on my name as Naruto Uzumaki and someone that promised his parents that he would become someone great." He bent own and went on his right knee. He gave a wry smile.

"I never offered you ramen, huh? I know you said you liked other foods, but I really wanted you to try my favorite ramen. I hope you like miso," he said, placing the steaming bowl of noodles quietly in front of the stone. Tears grew on the edges of his eyes. "Does it taste good?" His voice began to crack from grief and sadness. "I'd hope so. I mean, it is my favorite dish, after all."

A few steps sounded behind him, but Naruto didn't turn around. There was only one person he knew that would wake up at this time of night, and he smelled the food on the person. Akame. The two were silent, and the night chill began to work its way into the blond's skin, but he still didn't move, watching the steam rise from the bowl.

"She…was the kindest out of us." Naruto opened his eyes, tears beginning to roll down his face. No, he didn't need this. He didn't need to cry anymore! She was dead! Gone! But Akame didn't stop. "She was the only one that always tried to help everyone, although she was probably the worst one to take the jobs normally." Naruto began to shake.

'_Why the hell did my memories and my body have to shut down then?! No…if I was faster, I would've been able to save her. If only I was faster…stronger. I'm a coward!' _He slammed a fist into the grass, struggling with his emotions. What was he supposed to believe? What were his ideals? What should he believe in now?

Akame went on her knees and wrapped her arms awkwardly around the blond. Naruto broke down crying in front of the unimpressive grave for Sheele. She would not be remembered throughout history, because she was an assassin…

**Chapter End.**

**A/N: O.o Okay, when I wrote this, this was not what I was expecting to come out, but I guess this is what happens when you just go with the flow. But damn…I must have issues.**

**So…tell me what you thought about this chapter! Better than the last one? Worse? Not sure? Something I could've done better? All good, constructive criticism all around, yea! No flames, please! I will put them out by throwing water.**

**KenzoXShuyita, Peacing Out!**


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